Nigeria and Burden of Japa Syndrome
The spate at which Nigerians emigrate in search of greener pasture and security is a highly debated topic with its attendant brain-drain effect on the country. Recently the Nowa Omoigui Centre for the Advancement of Art, History and Medicine, NOWAS, organised a webinar where speakers analysed the syndrome, the root causes of migration trend and its impact on Nigerian society, Olawale Ajimotokan reports
Japa, is a Yoruba coinage, which in its literal connotation denotes ‘to leave for good’. It has become the new catch phrase for unbridled migration by desperate Nigerians in search of better paying jobs or other life supporting means.
But the worry is that it is not only the citizens with specialised skills inengineering, medicine, education, law and information technology that are migrating for better opportunities.
Now all manner of many of Nigerians now do so in some cases via irregular means with to work as either cleaners, cab drivers, labourers, hair dressers and mechanics among others, in the process putting their lives in harm’s way occasioned by the perilous journey they embark upon across the Sahara Desert or by attempting to cross the Mediterranean Sea into Europe aboard overloaded dinghies.
The long term effect for the country is that majority of the people that are migrating or planning to are the youths who constitute the productive population of the country.
A recent survey by the Nigeria Social Cohesion Survey revealed that seven out of 10 Nigerians are willing to relocate to other countries for various reasons, with a good number of them recording success.
Now, the current net Nigeria migration rate is -0.273 per 1000 population, which indicates that more people are emigrating from the country.
Also of concern is the statistics which put Nigeria with 11,055 trained doctors as the country with the third-highest number of foreign doctors working in the United Kingdom.
It is in response to this worrisome trend that the Nowa Omoigui Centre for the Advancement of Art, History and Medicine (NOWAS) recently organised a webinar with the topic: The Japa Syndrome and its Effect on a Nation (Nigeria).
The lecture was organised in memory of Dr Nowa Omoigui, an interventional cardiologist in the US and a foremost Nigerian-American civil- military historian who died on April 18, 2021.
The discussants included human rights activist and the publisher of Sahara Reporters, Omoyele Sowore; a political scientist and former Special Adviser to former President Olusegun Obasanjo, Prof Julius Ihonvbere; and a trained physician, Dr Egbe Dawodu.
Others were a certified immigration professional, Mr Aigbeze Uhimwen, the Chairman/CEO of Nigerians in Diaspora Commission, Mrs Abike Dabiri-Erewa and an anesthesiologist, Dr Sota Omoigui.
They extensively analysed the Japa syndrome and the root causes of the migration trend in addition to its impact on the Nigerian society.
They discussed the challenges faced by Nigerian immigrants in their host countries, including issues related to integration, discrimination and access to basic services.
Sowore who spoke first at the lecture, said the Japa phenomenon has political and economic undertone.
He lamented that expectations of many Nigerians of Eldorado in Diaspora are often dashed because they suffer cultural shock and dislocation in their new environment.
Unlike African-Americans, who are always sensitive to workplace treatment steaming from historic issues of race, Sowore said the self-worth of Nigerians are usually driven by economic gains rather than on their consciousness in their new community.
“There is also is the glass ceiling because realistically there is a level where you can reach as a Nigerian in America no matter your level of qualification. In addition to that African Americans view people in the Diaspora with suspicion because they feel Nigerians are more concerned about remittances and are not connected with the real issues and struggles that have historically defined racial relations in contemporary America,” Sowore said.
He also noted that when the chips are down many Nigerians who arrive in America in hope of an economic turnaround will begin to perceive Japa as a mere illusion after such expectation is not matched by the prevailing reality.
“And beyond that self-worth is very important to me. One of the reasons why I returned to Nigeria is because I don’t want to be buried in a place where my burial ground will not be known and where the ground is cold,” Sowore said.
On his part Ihonvbere said Japa is a response to government policy and its implementation.
He said a lot of Nigerians who migrate make that difficult choice because of disruption to their lives arising from lack of water, security and infrastructure, while calling on government to address all the issues of dislocation in the system.
Ihonvbere described Japa as an illusion while noting people with the right skills tend to do well when they migrate and make remittances to support their dependents while irregular migrants suffer all forms of indignities, including death while embarking on the risky journey.
He warned that relocating abroad is not always smooth sailing, noting that unlike in Nigeria, a migrant can’t go and knock the door of his neighbour asking for salt.
“There is dislocation in our educational system. Our youths now go to Ghana because of educational stability. All these are symptomatic of cultural dislocation which will persevere until we address these problems.
“The Japa syndrome is a response to the impunity and lawlessness in the country. The solution is to restructure our country and the institutions otherwise a lot of the problems will remain,” Ihonvbere said.
But Dr Egbe Dawodu expressed a slightly different opinion on the Japa problem.
She cited the giant strides of Nigerian inspired Fintech, unicorn companies, music industry and movie production as one of the positives of migration.
The fintech innovation has enabled people to shift away from using banks altogether because of the convenience of mobile banking apps, especially among the unbanked.
Dawodu argued that the technology that enabled those break through was designed by Nigerian youths who returned from the Diaspora to set up some of the privately held startup companies valued at billions of dollars.
“All of people I know who are in tech don’t Japa, they stay in Nigeria,” Dawodu said.
She also said one of the global health issues is brain drain because there is a lot of shortfall in the health workers.
Dawodu averred that the population of the health workers is aging in many of the developing countries, which explains why many foreign hospitals are looking at the Anglophone countries for health workers.
She said in the global pool of healthcare workers, 90 per cent of the heath workers said they wanted to work outside Nigeria.
She urged the country to be innovative in the health care sector like in finance and Nollywood, while noting that the health care spending is rather too low.
“What we are spending on health care is low. We inherited a system based on what the British left for us in the 60s. Other countries like Holland, Spain, Greece and Spain have been in our situation before. But they came out of it,” she said.
On his part, Uhimwen ascribed economic reasons to be primarily responsible for the spike in irregular migration.
He tasked the country to learn from both the positives and negatives of migration saying it can still export health workers if they are required by some countries.
But Dabiri-Erewa posited that the country should encourage regular migration as people can’t be stopped from migrating.
The CEO of the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission also voiced concern about people who migrate not knowing where they are going.
She called for collaboration with the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) to discourage people from migrating to Saudi Arabia, Libya and even Lebanon where they are treated like slaves.
“Irregular migration should be discouraged. There is no point going for a job and you end up coming back with nothing. We should fix our country. Some people do want to go but we need to make the environment good for our people,” she said.
She also voiced opposition to the bill currently before the House of Representatives seeking to stop medical doctors from migrating abroad.
“I disagree with that bill. Doctors are not the only ones going. Some of our doctors are coming back and setting up specialist hospitals. There are good and bad sides of migration. I see the dangers of irregular migration every day. Make sure you go and Japada (return) so that we can fix our country,” Dabiri-Erewa said.
In his remarks, Dr. Sota Omoigui, who wrote the national anthem in 1976, described the migration of the youth who constitute the country’s productive population as a time bomb waiting to explode.
He said youth should not be blamed for migrating in the face of hardship in a country where teaching hospitals have no running water, electricity, drugs and facilities and where patients are expected to bring their own water.
“We must start from the basic because our youths who are hopeless they will continue to Japa,” Omoigui said.
“Democracy in Nigeria is a sham. The Governors are setting up their own retirement plan and the legislators are planning a bill that will force the doctors to stay in the country for minimum of five years.
“Corruption streaks across the judiciary, the public and private agencies and everywhere. When corruption thrives, no White Paper will work,” he said.
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Irregular migration should be discouraged. There is no point going for a job and you end up coming back with nothing. We should fix our country. Some people do want to go but we need to make the environment good for our people
