Nigerian youth are leaving their country — giving rise to a movement known as japa
CBC
A number of young Nigerians are on the brink of making a life-changing decision: Whether to stay in their country and deal with corruption, broken infrastructure and the lack of jobs, or to leave and begin anew abroad.
For a lot of them, that decision will be based on the results of the recent presidential election. Young voters in Africa's most populous country registered in record numbers, with many pinning their hopes on Labour Party Leader Peter Obi.
But Bola Tinubu, of Nigeria's ruling party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), has been declared president-elect, with about 37 per cent of ballots — the country's first presidential candidate to win with less than half of the total votes.
Third-place Obi and other opposition party leaders have called the election a "sham," saying the election body failed to transmit the results electronically, through a system meant to show transparency. They are demanding a new vote, vowing to challenge the results in court in the coming days.
"I love my country," Cyril Aliemeke, 32, told Nothing is Foreign host Tamara Khandaker. "But in the last couple of years … it's been toxic.
"And it's born out of insecurity, problems with transportation, problems with health care, problems with education. Everyone just wants to go somewhere where they believe that it's better … and they don't have to complain about the basics of life."
Aliemeke is not alone. An entire movement — dubbed japa — has sprung up from disenchanted youth looking to get out. Japa is the Yoruba word that means to leave.
According to a recent survey by the Africa Polling Institute, 69 per cent of Nigerians would relocate if given the chance — a significant increase from the 40 per cent who felt that way in 2019.
Adu Ayeni, a former radio host in Lagos, recently migrated from Nigeria to the U.K. to start a new job. He told CNN he wanted to "live a better life" in a "better economy" for his family.
Oludayo Sokunbi, a graduate student at Concordia University in Montreal, tweeted he is tired of this election. He also runs the company Japaconsults to help young Nigerians apply for admissions, scholarships and jobs abroad.
Nigeria has a very young population, with 70 per cent of people under the age of 30, making them a significant voters' block.
In January, chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Mahmood Yakubu announced in a meeting with the political parties at the commission's headquarters that there were 9.4 million newly registered voters, with 7.28 million, or 76 per cent of them, being young people
The voter registration data also shows that a majority of voters, about 40 per cent, identified as students, followed by farmers and fishers at 15.8 per cent.
Aliemeke is a Peter Obi supporter who has been thinking about leaving Nigeria. He lives and works in Lagos, while his family is approximately 420 kilometres east, in the Niger Delta. He has not visited them in two years out of concerns for safety.
