Educational leadership in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria: A study of the perceptions of its impact on the acquired leadership skills of expatriate Nigerian postgraduates

Educational researchers have long experienced increasing rates of Nigerians educated to the graduate levels going overseas as a way to leave Nigeria. For the last 25 years, research has shown a rapid increase in the brain-drain syndrome in Nigeria (Akomas, 2006; Oji, 2005). From the history of expatriate Nigerians, research showed that the return rate of Nigerians who studied and obtained Ph.D.s in foreign countries shares a noticeable portion of the university educational outcomes and cannot be ignored. Pires, Kassimir and Brhane (1999), Oji (2005), West (2005), and Akomas (2006) agreed that brain-drain syndrome in Nigeria is increasing. Many Nigerian professors teaching in the universities in Nigeria have either gone overseas or are looking for ways to leave the country for greener pastures (West, 2005). In South Africa, one would find hundreds of Nigerian professors educating South Africans (West, 2005). Many are in Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom, Holland, Germany, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the United States, and many more places beyond the shores of Nigeria (West, 2005). Therefore, both educational leaders in the universities in Nigeria, in general, and Niger Delta region, in particular, and expatriate Nigerians educated to the graduate levels play a substantial role in the country's educational leadership effectiveness and success.