The Exodus of Nigerians for Greener Pastures

A lot of Nigerians are on a ‘Japa’ level. Most young people have given up on the country, a country that can not provide basic health care for its citizens, that even the president and his party’s candidate still shamelessly seek medical tourism abroad. The economy has collapsed and insecurity has put the people in constant fear. One can not blame those who are seeking better alternatives considering that we only live once on earth.

Aside from the government’s failure to provide social amenities and other critical needs, we as a people lack basic work ethics to power our economy. We are so dishonest as making quick money has become the order of the day. Almost every handiwork person wants to cheat his client, from mechanics to electricians, to plumbers to carpenters, etc. If you call them for their services and they are not able to cheat you in the purchase of the materials, they will not do a good job even if their labour is paid. So much unprofessionalism.

We also have unskilled graduates with certificates without ‘sabificate’. And most of these graduates don’t want to start small. Everyone wants to sit in a big office watching DSTv and Facebooking and expect a salary at the end of the month. The system is saturated with so many incompetent workers as employment is strictly based on nepotism and who you know.

The CEOs of big companies like Dangote and Adenuga hardly employ Nigerians to manage their companies because of our unprofessionalism. They prefer Asians who are normally trained with the basic work ethics and principles that are lacking in most Nigerians. They know that no business will grow with our inherent anyhowness, half-heartedness, our disdain for excellence, our passion for shortcuts, wastefulness, lack of courtesy, dishonesty, our no be my papa work, and where man the work naim him dey chop mentality, our just manage am mentality, our wish to be as rich as the CEO overnight, our inability to keep confidential information.

We have very poor work ethics such that even successful Nigerians abroad still prefer to employ Asians over Nigerians. However, the system abroad will compel Nigerians ‘Japaring’ to learn how to do the work as they are supposed to do it. The increasing level of Jepa will create a brain drain but it will significantly increase the foreign remittances to Nigeria in the next couple of years. It will also create a subset of Nigerians with basic work ethics that may come back to add value to our polity if serious and competent persons emerge as leaders after the 2023 election and beyond.