Japa: Nigerians run away in droves, the appeal and the burden

That Nigeria is losing thousands of her highly skilled workers to the western world, which it requires to build a virile nation is no longer news. Thousands of Nigerians, young, middle-aged, and adult, are moving out of the country either through employment opportunities, education, marriage, and many other illegal means giving rise to the code name ‘Japa Nation’.

The reasons for this mass exodus of Nigerians are traceable to many factors — economic, security, social, and many others. A few others consider stability and the opportunity to plan a life with almost exact precision in a society where systems work. Whichever way we look at it, lots of risks are involved. Where there is no risk, the financial implication of ‘Japa’ is huge.

In 2018, 29, 734 Nigerian immigrants overstayed their visas. This is the number of known Nigerians who entered the US legally but refused to leave at the right time. Many actually ‘got lost within the system’. The report did say 29,734 visas were granted to Nigerians between 2017 and 2018; of that number, 29,000 showed no evidence of leaving the country when their tourist visas were due.

This was one of the reasons President Donald Trump put a lot of restrictions on visa issuance to Nigerians. President Trump then also activated the deportation of illegal and other undocumented immigrants in the USA. Despite this, Nigeria still has one of the highest numbers of African students studying in the United States.

With the United Kingdom, most of the emigration to this country by Nigerians is for study and short visits. The United Kingdom is more friendly in accepting Nigerian students because of its close educational syllabus and curriculum. The number of study visas granted to Nigerians by the UK has risen from 9,355 in 2020 to 58,887 by March 2022.

Canada and Australia, Sweden, Finland, Germany, Ghana, Kenya, and South Africa are not left behind in this rush by Nigerians to leave the country by all means.

Old disease, new name

The story of Nigerians running away from the motherland did not start today. Unlike in the early 1970s when Nigeria was the darling of many nations because of the oil boom and perceived better management of the systems which yielded quality education, better infrastructure, etc many across the world came here. The economy was also a great appeal to many of the African and western nations. But from the early 1980s, the economic downturn as well as the dictatorship regime occasioned by military rule, Nigerians began their journey into exile. The common slang for the movement of young adults and politicians trying to run away then was ‘Andrew’. A popular Nigerian musician, Veno Marioghae, had to appeal to Nigerians through her songs to have hope.

The 1990 mass emigration was the worst of it all. This was majorly by youth who were desperate to leave. Many Nigerians died in the deserts and many other illegal routes. The evil effects of this were everywhere. A Nigerian journalist and former presidential spokesperson, Olusegun Adeniyi, spoke and wrote extensively about this in different fora because he actually lost a brother in the process. This in no way deter many who did not see hope in their fatherland.

‘Japa’ avenues

As already noted, there were several routes for Nigerians to use. A common practice is through school. Especially those who have the means. People who access this route are majorly children of the rich, bank employees, and many other individuals who have the funding. Few who do not have the funding but are exceptionally brilliant individuals find their way around it. There are several funding opportunities like Chevening, Commonwealth Scholarships for UK-bound students, Erasmus Mundus, and many others in Europe.

As long as you have the means and know your way, this had opened the way for many Nigerians and their dependants in droves. The United Kingdom recently raised an alarm over the influx of Nigerians and their dependants in the last year. The United Kingdom had also considered visa restrictions over the surge. Canada, the United States of America, Germany, Sweden, Finland, and many other countries had stories of gain in this area though this requires heavy financial flight.

Professional routes

The other route that opened recently was professional routes. In the past five years, Canada had opened its door to many Nigerian professionals in IT, medicine, and any other specialised skills for immigration. The United Kingdom also has a lot of gains in this space, thanks to BREXIT and its associated implications of the shortage of skills.

Verifiable evidence had shown that “an average of 509 software engineers, since the beginning of this year, have secured better offers abroad majorly in Canada, the US, and the UK. Just recently, the UK licensed 266 Nigerian doctors in two months”. This is just the documented number.

Many banks in Nigeria were mostly hit by this exodus. With regards to doctors, Nigeria’s medical council says an average of 9,000 doctors moved to UK and Canada in the last two years where a total of 6,068 had left under President Buhari’s administration

Refuge and other illegal routes

According to data, 31,185 Nigerians are currently seeking refugee status across the world. Many of these are either Nigerians who had overstayed their visas or those who had gone through and survived illegal routes: deserts, seas, and many others.

Before COVID-19, many Nigerians who were able to secure United States of America visas found their way through the New York route connecting to Canada where almost everyone who was admitted was allowed to stay in Canada pending their appeal. This propelled Canada and the United States of America as well as Nigeria to call for restrictions.

The desperation and the motivation

Given the fact that Nigerians know that not every who applies will get the visa, Nigerians and many foreign visa agents had seen an opportunity to appeal to the emotions, swindle or cajole Nigerians to look at various forms of help they can offer.

There is a spiritual undertone where Nigerians are encouraged to seek ‘anointing’ that will get them easy access at the various embassies. For some others, they present as professionals who can give them the code.

The cost of ‘Japa’

There are several costs attached to ‘Japa’. There is the obvious loss of countless lives either on the sea or in the desert. Some Nigerians have also been killed, murdered as well as used by organ harvesters across the globe. This has made the Nigerian government raise an alarm. But there are other less life-threatening costs to this.
Beginning from filling out the application, visa agents are making a hell of money from Nigerians, a visit to VFS Global in Lekki, Lagos, which collects and transmits passports to several embassies milk Nigerians dry. For instance, if applying for a South African visa, the visa fee itself is N7,500 but services charges can range from N10,000 to N40,000. We did not get access to what other countries pay Whichever way we look at it, there is a cost to ‘Japa’. None of the routes used by Nigerians above is free.

Kate (not her real name), a Nigerian who used the New York route to seek asylum in Canada and is now lucky to have received her permanent residency visa, doubles as a close associate to the writer and had been encouraging this writer for over a year ago to follow the same route did say: “I have to first get a tourist visa (B1/B2)of the United States visa and traveled to the US as a tourist first in other not to give the impression that my final aim was Canada’’.

According to Kate, she was lucky to have been given two years tourist visa with her kids. They traveled the first time and came back but just four months later, she left with her kids and went to Canada in 2017. Today, through hard work, she had won the case and now and had been given her PR in Canada. But in the end, the project cost her like N5,000,000.

Roland, not his real name, who spoke to this writer, when asked what it costs to immigrate as a skilled/professional with HI Visa to the USA said, “it all depends if you want to do it alone or you want to use an immigration lawyer”. Because he did not want to take chances, he used an immigration lawyer and that cost about $15,000.00 minus air tickets for the family and the cost of settlement in the USA.

Another businessman, Seyi Olukayode (not his real name), who is around 58 years did say, “the purpose of my japa is not because I was not relatively doing well in Nigeria. But I am considering my old age and health management opportunities. Besides, I also considered my children with regard to quality education”. This process of getting a business settlement in Canada cost him around $80,000.00 to move a family of six. This is also minus the cost of flight tickets and accommodation.

Olukayode also sounded a note of warning to those who have the means, the environment is different. A man, even if he is the breadwinner, must be ready to support his wife over here. Be ready to help with dishes and taking the children to school otherwise, it will not be long before there is a crack in the family.

Funmi, a young woman in her middle 20s who just left for the United Kingdom to pursue her masters’ degree has her parents to thank. When asked how much did she invest in this expedition, she said, “an average of N17,000,000 including the exorbitant N2,000,000 air ticket I had to pay when my visa did not come out on time and I was already late for resumption”.

The burden on Nigeria and Nigerians

Looking at the scenario above, the cost of ‘Japa’ is huge. No serious nation should allow such a level of capital flight as well as other economic benefits to other nations. In the UK alone, it is already estimated that Nigerians will contribute an average of close to £2 billion to the UK economy. What a colossal loss. Nigeria has continued to lose skilled professionals through this medium in a country where there is a heavy shortage of such skills.

Nigerian students in the USA alone invested, in 2018, about $514,000 aside from Nigeria’s direct investment in the USA. Aside from this, over 500,000 Nigerian-born Americans are hugely contributing to the US economy.

While this portends danger, some believe that Nigerians moving abroad is a good omen as there is a high possibility of increased diaspora remittance to Nigeria. In fact, World Bank data revealed that Nigeria’s diaspora population remitted $65.34 billion in three years – 2018 ($24.31 billion), 2019 ($23.81 billion), and 2020 ($17.21 billion) – to boost economic activities in the country. Thus, some see the ‘Japa nation’ as a blessing in disguise.

Whatever we say it is obvious that “poor governance systems in Nigeria with its attendant poor planning and disregard for future generations are all too conducive for the maintenance of the Japa nation”.