OPINION BY SIMON KOLAWOLE: Can ‘japa’ land Nigeria in Japan? | TheCable
slang that roughly means “to cut loose”. For four decades, Nigerians have been “cutting loose” for economic reasons. The current wave is reminiscent of the exodus of medical personnel to Saudi Arabia in the mid-1980s. That, I should think, was the first mass movement of Nigerians abroad that gained media attention. The naira had fallen from N1/$ to N4/$, making forex earnings juicy and attractive — and, good enough, Saudi badly needed doctors and nurses.
On a positive side, regular immigration became easier. The US Visa Lottery was very popular among Nigerians in the 1990s and 2000s before we were no longer eligible. Dublin, in the Republic of Ireland, was a popular destination before the rules were tightened — apparently to curb abuse. Because it was an English-speaking EU country with the UK just next door, Ireland offered a comfortable new home for Nigerians. Any child born there automatically became a citizen, along with other benefits.
Two, when Nigerians study or work in advanced societies, they are in a good stead to learn new things about the world, about work ethic, about critical thinking, about global best practices. Our medical personnel cannot attend to patients in Europe with the same contempt they mete out to Nigerians back home. They cannot get away with negligence as they easily do here. Also, lecturers cannot dictate to their employers what payment software to use.