Japa Isn’t All That, Who Coulda Guessed?

Published: 04 Jan 2025 at 05:58 +0200

See Nigerians migrate to the UK and US in search of the good life – but this isn’t what they find on theconversation.com

Japa—Yoruba slang which literally to “break away”. To leave hastily, fee, run away or escape. Typically used to describe people who leave Nigeria for better pastures.

A lot of African countries suck, which is why the young people who can leave do so, making their way to Europe, North America and Gulf countries. This is referred to as japa in Nigeria, but it’s something experienced in many African countries, like Zim. Heck, it’s especially experienced by those two countries which are among the top origin countries for Non-EU migrants to the UK..

Sadly, many are discovering that life out there isn’t all that it’s cracked out to be, something that Tunde Alabi examined in the linked post.

In short, life outside of Africa isn’t a game, let alone a cheap one.

I mean,

migrants had to work hard in the host country was the high cost of living: paying rent monthly, the high cost of electricity and the fact that they paid for water. Many people don’t pay for water in Nigeria.

Having a good standard of living costs money and you’re expected to pay for it, shocker. Not mentioned here is the black tax¹ where those abroad are expected to support those who stayed behind, even though a significant chunk of your income is gobbled up in bills, rent and flexing on social media, and repaying the loans you took to flex.

As Kandoro puts it [VIDEO 0:59]:

You spend half your time convincing people back home that you’re doing well, but not well enough to send them money.

Also the healthcare it is funny; those in the US are shocked at how expensive it is and those in the UK are shocked at how long it takes to get help.

It also gets really lonely out there since the cultures are very individualistic. I mean,

Neighbours will even welcome you with ‘tell your kids to keep their voices down else I alert the police and social services.’

Like jeez. It’s so bad that at church, my pastor is dedicating a significant amount of effort to ensure that people abroad are able to connect with each other because life out there very much isn’t like home.

Personally, despite how beautiful the Grand Tour made this country, it still sucks and I want to leave. At the same time, there are a lot of benefits to home that many don’t appreciate. It’s hard to explain but there’s a sense of belonging², you can huslte your way out of things (like skipping rent) and you can actually make it big since the ceiling seems much higher. I mean, here you can practice your profession (provided you can get a job)—what’s switching to a carer going to get you? Do you relly think you can regain the lost time from doing care work under the promise that you’ll settle?

Sour grapes aside, why do people stay then? Well, there’s stability, safety and rights, which means they can plan for the future. Sadly a lot of those countries seem to be taking their stability for granted so I’m not sure we can run away from our country’s problems anymore.

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