Rejected at home, blossom abroad

Last month, I lost my very dear friend to the United Kingdom. He joined the growing list of Nigerians who have relocated from the country. Although he informed me that he is going for his second degree, I knew he would likely not come back. He is one out of thousands of Nigerians that have left the country since 2020.

A lot of brilliant minds from Nigeria have found solace in hustling for greener pastures outside the shores of the country. It is a sad situation yet it doesn’t look like it will stop anytime soon. The United Kingdom is almost becoming the 37th state in Nigeria.

Migration is as old as humans. However, the recent wave has been on the increase. And to be fair to some of them, they always blossom whenever they leave the country. They tend to get more opportunities, read more, and connect with the right set of people that would later be a catalyst to their growth.

There have been instances of Nigerians becoming shining light in Music, Movies, Politics, Art and more. The examples are numerous to mention, a lot of time, you are bound to ask yourself the big question, would they have blossomed if they were still stuck in Nigeria?

Last month, Kemi Badenoch was elected as the leader of the opposition in the United Kingdom, she is already positioned to be a British Prime Minister in years to come, you tend to wonder if this would have been possible if she was in Nigeria. She even found it hard to associate with the country. Her interview and public utterances shows she never had a best time while in Nigeria.

Chimamanda Adiche is a global superstar in the literary circle, you keep wondering if she would have been half of what she is currently is if she was still in Nigeria. Even a lot of Nigerian literary scholars had to leave the country at some particular point in their life. Perhaps, Japa has never been a new things, it just got worse in the last four years.

In September 2024, I listened to Johnny Crown’s “Chosen,” long play. The revered rapper who shares Nigerian heritage has been raking up streaming numbers, appearing on prominent performing stages across the world. This feat might not have been possible if he was still in Nigeria. One of the beauties of leaving Nigeria is the opportunities it gives you. Money might be the top reason people leave the country yet the place of opportunities can’t be ignored.

While the majority of them found it difficult to blossom in Nigeria, with their Migration, a lot of them are living their best life, striking out goals, aspiring for more.

It is a few months to the end of 2024, the spate of people migrating from the country won’t end anytime soon. The solution is for the government to put things in proper perspective, legislate policies that would improve business conditions and more.

Wisdom Nwachukwu, a media practitioner, wrote in from Lagos.