Centuries ago, our foreparents were forcefully taken to various countries as slaves. Ironically, the reverse is becoming the case as hordes of Nigerians are voluntarily looking for opportunities to travel overseas. As things kept getting worse, the Japa syndrome, a Yoruba axiom that translates to “flee,” became endemic; the majority of Nigerians have the fear of uncertainty that the country is a graveyard of potential which is most likely not getting better anytime soon.

Japa syndrome poses a grave danger to Nigeria’s economy, workforce, and overall survival. It has seemed to be a hurricane as citizens are moving in droves to Europe, Asia, the USA, and even other African countries. According to PEW research, Nigeria ranked highest among 12 surveyed countries from the Middle East, Europe, and North America with around 45% of Nigeria’s adult population desperately wanting to relocate. Particularly in the UK, in a recent report by the UK government,  Indians, and Nigerian health and skilled workers have the highest visa grants in 2021 at 42,966 and 13,609, respectively. Official data from Canadian immigration shows that at least 12,595 Nigerians relocated to Canada alone in 2019 alone, and there was an increase of over 214.9% in 2019 from 4,000 applications for permanent residency by Nigerians in Canada in 2015. 

The above statistics have shown that Japa syndrome comes with a huge cost to our country and needs to be addressed. However, we need to find the root and remote causes of Japa in the Nigerian case to help us design an indigenous methodology that works for us. The desire for better career opportunities, heightened insecurity in the country, infrastructural deficit, the need to provide a better future, further education, and poor governance in the country are the top causes of Japa.  That over 50% of Nigerian doctors and more than 3 million Nigerians found their way out of the country in 2022 according to separate data from the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors and the Association of Nigerian Students in Europe, respectively, is disheartening, to say the least. 

The list is endless, but it is clear that most of the recorded migrants are skilled laborers. Economically, when we lose our best to the world, we have to import such service from outside, which often comes with a huge cost. When our best are outside the shores of Nigeria, it also creates a psychological and ideological effect among citizens. Psychologically in the sense that Japa syndrome made people easily believe it is impossible to achieve dreams in Nigeria as most of our best are made overseas. Ideologically people lose touch with reality and often become less patriotic. 

Thanks to Japa syndrome, when a citizen has no belief in the motherland; things often fail to work and become largely unpatriotic. They seem to attribute every failure to the country because they are desperate to Japa by all means. Whether they Japa or not, they refute supporting any government to succeed. This way, the majority redefines patriotism to mean any anti-government movement.

Japa syndrome endemic is a call for the government, opinion holders, and every citizen to jettison personal interests and put their hands to work. If urgent measures are not taken, a time will come when we will lose most of our labor force, citizens become enemies of the country and our economies in shambles. We can adopt various methodologies to save the soul of Nigeria from Japa syndrome. 

Unemployment, poor payment structure, and consistent strike actions by the working population are some top fuels of the Japa syndrome. The government cannot provide all the jobs for its citizens, no doubt, but it ought to form alliances with private and public institutions to lower the barrier to entry in various industries as well as suit payment structures that work for employees and employers. When graduates, for instance, can acquire experience from experts in various industries as interns and they can grow from there, they would care less about Japa. 

National integration programs and policies like NYSC can go a long way to restore hope and reunite citizens. The various programs and policies should be redesigned and strengthened to reward patriotism and reorient participants about the values, culture, and potential of the country. Once instilled, patriotism among citizens will increase and Japa syndrome will decrease.

Government can match the infrastructure deficit among various cities to mitigate Japa syndrome. Access roads, markets, hospitals, and other infrastructures when built well will restore hope among citizens. For instance, a Nigerian software engineer who works with Apple or Microsoft can comfortably stay in Nigeria and work remotely instead of going abroad where he pays higher taxes and immigration duties if there are adequate water, power, and enabling policies. Similarly, other workers, including civil servants would care less about Japa. 

Investing in education and the right education can help reduce Japa syndrome. While it is necessary to teach classical subjects and programs, the Nigerian educational system should include curriculums that teach the Nigerian value systems, culture, and principles. Like the Spanish conquistador, Hernán Cortés who was said to order his men to burn the boats in their conquest of the Aztec empire in 1519, Nigeria’s education system should teach Nigerain to burn every Japa syndrome as we have no other place called home; if we make it inhabitable, so it becomes for us. When we have the right education the droves moving to the UK, US, etc for study would have a rethink. 

Conclusively, we need collective efforts to mitigate Japa syndrome and our methodologies such as jobs, infrastructure, integration policies, and education should be designed to perform psychological, economic, and ideological functions in mitigating Japa syndrome among Nigerians.

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