A bold article by former Director General of Nigeria Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dakuku Peterside in one of the online media speaks to the concern of the country as Nigerians, especially youths move out of the country in droves. To Peterside, “five major factors seem to be fueling this voluntary migration from Nigeria, which has never been seen since World War II. These factors include the desire for better career opportunities, heightened insecurity in the country, the need to provide a better future for one’s children, the requirement of further education, and poor governance in the country. To underscore these points, a cursory look at Nigeria’s economic statistics paints an ugly picture.”
The federal government is also not unaware of this predicament, however what the government as far as we are concern is incapable of is to put in place machineries that would make Nigerian youths have a change of mind about leaving the country for greener pastures.
Early this year, President Muhammadu Buhari lamented the migration of African youth to Europe. He said the migration drains the development of the continent’s pool of talents while also provoking political crisis in Europe. According to an article published by the President in Politico, he said that Europe will not find a sustainable remedy to the problem but further reinforcing its fortress Europe approach.
He advised that more opportunities must be created for Africans at home, providing alternatives to the decision to take a life-threatening boat journey in order to seek them elsewhere. He said economic relationship between the two continents must be recalibrated to focus on job creation.
The president may have proffer progressive advice to help young Nigerians and Africans to have a change of heart about travelling out of the country; however his advice appears to come from the approach of someone who has little to do about the challenge. The president cannot put the blame of migration on the step of Europe when the causes are here in Nigeria and Africa at large.
No Nigerian youth would want to stay at home when his contemporaries outside the country are in class without any threat of industrial actions by lecturers. No Nigerian would want to stay in a country that has zero job opportunities for its citizens. No Nigerian would want to want to give birth in a hospital where the doctors and nurses are on and off work due to disagreement in welfare packages with government. There is no Nigerian, no matter how patriotic he is would set up businesses in Nigeria when all policies are focused on stiffing live out of the business.
A study carried out by Pew Research Centre in 2019 shows that 45 percent of Nigerian said they plan to move to another country in the next five years.
It is rather unfortunate that we find ourselves in this kind of predicament. However, the governments have a duty to right this wrong.
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