Japa: The New Nigerian Dream?

About 2 years ago, while I was fundraising for a charity campaign I did as part of my graduate training, my colleague and I had walked into our directors office to make a pitch on why he should sponsor our project, which was to provide solar power in a secondary school. As we discussed different things, he picked up on the fact that we were both IJGB’s (I Just Got Back – Nigerian shorthand for people who went to school abroad) and we started to discuss something that we commonly refer to as “japa”. Though at the time, I didn’t know what it meant.

Essentially, he had asked us why we had moved back, and I explained that I’m a patriot who believes that all those in diaspora should eventually come back and bring the skills and knowledge they’ve acquired back home so collectively, we can make Nigeria a better place for present and future generations alike. My colleague on the other hand agreed, though I later came to find that she was just back for vibes. My director and I were aligned on the fact that we should all come back home because there’s a lot of unrealized potential and the youth are in best position to tap into it.

For context, most of us IJGB’s who live in Lagos or Abuja are sometimes detached from the reality of Nigeria as a whole and what goes on beyond what we see around us or on instablog, hence why I was so quick to judge Nigerians in diaspora about not coming back home.

The first time I thought about japa was on the 20th of October 2020, when the #EndSars movement came to a violent peak and turned on its head. That was when I understood that Nigeria was a ticking time bomb and if we continue as we are, even the protected 1% wouldn’t be so untouchable. You see, people who want to japa are not necessarily looking for “greener pastures”, most of them just want to live and not merely survive. They want a chance at life. Fair chance or otherwise.

On another episode of surviving Nigeria, we had a 14-story building collapse in IKOYI! – a highbrow area in Lagos – killing at least 30 people. The excavation went on for days and the emergency response team were condemned for not knowing how to handle the situation and making an already dangerous task more dangerous.

To put things into perspective, these few examples are incidents that happened on the Island and gained a lot of attention in both national and international media.

Consider what goes on in other parts of the country. Somewhere in Kano state, a mother had lost a son while waiting in line to see the Emir because she couldn’t afford to buy medication for her sick child. All it cost was N250. Imagine not having less than $1 for medication? No money for food. No money to take care of your child. I wonder how he survived that long.

The National Bureau of Statistics suggests that the number of Nigerians living in poverty is more than the total population of South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Lesotho, Mauritius and Eswatini combined.

In Oguli – Enugu State, Nnamdi was on his way back home after the Easter holidays where he was serving his country as a corper but he never made it back home because he was kidnapped for a ransom that was more than his parents would ever see in their lifetime. His story never even made the local news.

Insecurity is also at an all-time high all over the country, Boko Haram and all sorts of Banditry in the North, unknown gunmen in the East and kidnapping in the South. Returning home in one piece is considered a miracle in those parts.

Look at Damola, he managed to get into a public university to study Mass Communications, it wasn’t his first choice, but it was better than roaming around in the streets. Even with that, he is in and out of school because of the constant ASUU strikes, and he will be lucky if he completes his 4 – year degree in 6 years. If Damola had the opportunity to leave Nigeria and move to Canada instead, would you blame him?

For the youth who make up over 50% of the Nigerian population, japa is an opportunity. An opportunity to secure a future in a more stable environment which isn’t guaranteed in your home country.

So, to the Nigerian youth who want to japa and can afford to do so safely, I wish you the best of luck. And to all who against all odds, believe that there is a light at the end of this dark tunnel, I applaud you.