Former vice chancellor, University of Ibadan (UI), Prof Abel Idowu Olayinka, has said poor governance, economic conditions, income, insecurity, limited professional development opportunities and political instability were responsible for the rising “japa” syndrome in Nigeria.
According to the scholar ‘japa’ is used in Nigeria to represent the phenomenon of Nigerian nationals running, escaping, disappearing or fleeing the country to settle
permanently elsewhere, from a situation, often in a hasty and urgent manner without any intention of returning to the country any time soon.
Olayinka said this in a lecture entitled: “Nigerian Japa Syndrome: Quo Vadis (going forward)”, delivered at the 65th Anniversary of the University of Ibadan Alumni Association, Lagos State Branch on Tuesday.
He said the slang term has gained widespread usage among Nigerian youths and in popular culture, saying the Yoruba colloquial word
takes firm root in the aspiration that young Nigerians have to leave the country for good.
The geophysicist said that japa was not new to the country, adding that Nigerians have been relocating for a very long time as evident in the “Andrew checking-out” and exodus of the 1980s as well as the visa lottery schemes of the 1990s.
He said, “What seems like a coordinated escape from the country in recent years is not entirely new to our national consciousness. However, none of these past emigration campaigns has been as
significant, or as documented as what is ongoing right now.
This is year 2023 and Nigerians are still getting out in droves.
“Because it coincides with the Internet age and mass information, it only makes sense that emigration stories are now being shared in real- time, going viral and becoming more of a spectacle than it ever was for previous generations.
The implication is that these days, everyone knows about it, everyone follows it and everyone seems to have an idea of how Nigeria’s epic relocation wave is shaping up.”
