Japa is a Yoruba word which is now popular among the youths and working class people of Nigeria. It means to flee and escape out of the country by every means possible in order to seek for a better life without thinking of looking back.
It is now prevalent among the youths and working class Nigerians who have been doing everything humanly possible to get out of the country in the last five years.
The harsh conditions and hopeless situation in Nigeria and basically in the immediate spaces are forcing mostly the working class people of Nigeria to find every means to jet out of the country to the extent of selling their properties and resigning from their work even at a senior cadre position to escape out of pains and hopelessness in the country.
I called the migration an escape because that is just the best word to describe the ugly and shameful trend in my country.
It is convenient to feel and say that the general harsh economy condition in the country prompted this pitiable syndrome among the country’s greatest resources; the working class people and her youths.
I will not want to fault this assertion totally because the general rise in price level is unimaginable and this brings untold pains on the people of Nigeria. No basic amenities to live a worthy life, coupled with failure of our government at all levels and recently no fuel, no money.
However, with my critical examination, I have been able to adduce and affirm that the oppression, impunity and hopelessness in the immediate environment of workers in Nigeria is the real cause of Japa.
The oppression in offices where people work is unimaginable but everyone blames President Buhari as if he heads every institutions and organizations that are fantastically corrupt and oppressive.
I am very sure that if most of the directors, DFAs, VCs, MDs and the rest were the president, the whole country would have been ran aground with the crude and shameful oppression, impunity and pains that are melted on subordinates and dissenting voices in their little spaces.
People who head organizations are involved in crude and shameless persecution, impunity, subjugation and discriminations. This is the real reason our working class people and youths are fleeing the country even with the exorbitant money required for this escape.
If the immediate environment, the working place, where workers spend most of their time had been sane and promising, the rate of “japa” will not be this high in the country. It is the hopelessness, shameful persecution and intimidation in offices and other immediate environments that frustrate workers, who are in high hierarchical position in organizations, and even own properties to flee the country. It is not really President Buhari.
I want to draw our minds to systemic and institutional oppression and impunity as the major killers of our people’s existence and frustration in this country. We have monsters all over our spaces in tie and suit shamelessly making living and working environment a terrible place. These are places where workers spend most of their time daily.
I believe that, when we realize the chief challenges of the country, we would be able to find ways of solving them. It is time we knew that, the chief causal agent of our woes is not really Buhari but heads of organizations, institutions and even churches where people work and pray daily.
Those who heads these places are shamelessly and fantastically wicked while marauding as angels, I make bold to say that, they are the reason for the japa syndrome in our society.
Oluwaseyi G. Abayomi
The Chairman, Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU)
University of Medical Sciences Ondo
