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Against the background, in recent times, of unprecendented negative campaign directed at this country by sections of the international media, the development by a Nigerian scientist, Dr. Philip Emeagwali, of the world's fastest computer is refreshing and cheering news. Experts say that the computer, which can compute 3.1 billion calculations per second, will greatly facilitate the ability of oil firms to understand and calculate the flow patterns of oil within an oil field as well as maximise the extraction of the mineral resource. Dr. Emeagwali's achievement will therefore help the oil industry to save valuable time and money. The Connection Machine programmed by Emeagwali to perform 3.1 billion calculations per second. Although intense attention has been focussed on those those unpatriotic Nigerians, a microscopic proportion of our population, who perpetrate various crimes abroad, here is an example of a worthy Nigerian contributing significantly to the development of his host country. Ever since he arrived in the United States in 1974 to pursue his academic career, Dr. Emeagwali has won several awards including the prestigious Gordon Bell Prize for work done in the computer field. It is noteworthy that he is the first ever single recipient of the respected award which, in previous years, had been won by different teams of scientists. That the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has received 41 inventions submitted to it over the years by Dr. Emeagwali is further testimony to the scientist's genius. Only 30 percent of oil can be recovered from the average oil field. Petroleum reservoir simulators, running on massively parallel computers, are X-ray machines that help the oil industry recover more oil. There are, of course, thousands of other Nigerians in the U.S. and other parts of the world contributing positively to their various host societies in several fields including medicine, engineering, academics, the arts and so on. Unfortunately, these do not receive as much publicity as the few who carry out negative activities to the detriment of the country's image. Dr. Emeagwali's achievement only helps to further illustrate the fact that this is a country immensely endowed with high quality human resource. The big question is, why do we continue to stagnate in the vicious cycle of political instability, economic recession and social decay inspite of being so richly blessed? Philip Emeagwali in front of the partial differential equations that won him the Gordon Bell Prize. It is certainly frustrating to see scores of Nigerians contributing to the further advancement of already developed societies even as our country strives to cast off the shackles of underdevelopment. We must acknowledge, however, that the so-called "brain drain" phenomenon, which has seen the exodus of talented Nigerians to all parts of the globe largely for brighter material prospects, can be a blessing in disguise. This is because the skills and experience garnered by such persons can be usefully utilized to enrich the development process here when they eventually return home. Map of Nigeria. For us, the lesson of Emeagwali's success story in the U.S. is the urgent need to create the conducive environment and atmosphere necessary to properly motivate and mobilise the country's human resources for positive social transformation. In particular, the country's leaders, across contending divides, must spare no effort to heal past wounds and achieve reconciliation in a spirit of compromise so that the requisite political and economic conditions can be created for the developmental project to be frontally tackled. We must also be prepared to invest heavily in research, especially in critical areas such as science and technology, and make available necessary facilities for experts in such fields to work fruitfully. That way, the scores of Emeagwali's in foreign lands will be encouraged to come back home and contribute their quota to national development. Editorial in the May 13, 1996 issue of Daily Times (Nigeria's largest daily sale). Click on emeagwali.com for more information.