99-year-old Ghanaian Graduate Urges Scholars to Stay Home

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Recently, Ghana's Presbyterian College University gained a notable alumnus: Akasease Kofi Boakye Yiadom, who, in 2006, began his coursework in business, earning his degree at the ripe, old age of 99. As CNN Africa reports, the World War II-vet is using his notoriety to coax his fellow graduates to stay home and combat the so-called "brain drain" that impacts a number of African countries—in part because developed countries can pay wages of up to 20 times what Ghanaians earn for doing the same jobs.

Boakye Yiadom says that Ghanaian students owe it to their countrymen to keep their knowledge within the nation: "If it is a scant pay you have to accept it, because it is the government's money that has been used to educate you. ... So if you have finished school and passed your degree, you have to stay in Ghana and serve Ghana."

Interestingly, according to the International Organization for Migration, more than 85 percent of Ghanaians who migrate away from the country eventually return. Those emigres also send back nearly $2 billion per year, which is about 14 percent of the country's GDP.