Towards the end of last year, a young girl (circa 20), who had expertise in dumpsite scavenging and was a mentee of my beloved, called excitedly and informed her she was travelling abroad. She informed her that somebody would pay for EVERYTHING and that a job was already waiting for her! No certificate, no skill, no work experience, no travel documents, but there was already a job awaiting her at God knows where. When she was asked two or three unstructured questions, she perished the thought. Incidentally, the kind-hearted man who wanted to sponsor her foreign trip was so furious with the girl for failing to seize the opportunity with three hands. I thought the person who missed the opportunity would be the one feeling bad!
Last week, it was reported that two young Nigerians died in Ukraine while fighting on the Russian side. The Russian invasion of Ukraine has become worse than the ‘police action’ of 1967 in brutality and mutual destructiveness. The duo reportedly travelled to Russia in pursuit of jobs a few months ago, and when they got there, they were pressurised to sign a contract in a language they did not understand and without any legal advice. They were marched straight to the warfront, obviously without training, and they were felled by a drone attack. One of them has a wife and two young children at home.
These two incidents reminded me of an article I wrote a few years ago, and here it is.
In the good old days, young men went overseas mostly to school and because they could not scale through the Nigerian university’s merit-based and stringent admission hurdles. There were also those troublesome ones whose parents sent them on ‘exile’ abroad so as to buy some peace. That was a period when people went to private schools because they could not get admission into missionary or government schools. How things have changed! The issue of people going abroad to ‘hussle’ was unheard of. Suddenly, following the Structural Adjustment Programme, which sapped our economy; the consequential degradation of our currency and the riotous inflationary trends; the emergence of extremely avaricious and I-don’t-care politicians; and the onset of Americamania (the inexplicable quest for everything American and foreign) caused by the merciless forces of globalisation, going overseas became a very big deal and, to some of our ‘idle youths’, the ONLY option. Sure, some went abroad to study because, due to an unfortunate reversal of fortunes, Nigerian certificates now get K-Leg, and employers are ready to part with intimidating sums to hire foreign-trained Nigerians (I don’t know whether this applies to those who schooled at Cotonou, some of whom bused their way to and from Lagos daily).
“In the good old days, young men went overseas mostly to school and because they could not scale through the Nigerian university’s merit-based and stringent admission hurdles.”
However, there is a growing horde of desperados who believe that going overseas is the only option. These are the ones who go through the window, by legedezebenze, by camel, by truck or by stowing away. They believe that the grass is greener on the other side and that the roads of yonder are paved with gold, where one could pick dollars on the street. Where are they going, and what are they going to do? They don’t know; they just want to leave this country. In 2015, when the “clueful” PMB and his gang of desperate and disparate politicians overran Nigeria, somebody argued that Nigerians did not actually vote in Buhari; that they voted out the CLUEless GEJ. It was everyone but lucky Goodluck. Well, our people say that when a woman marries two husbands, she would be in a position to compare and contrast (this proverb also applies to men). So, for these youths, the war cry is anywhere but Nigeria, and they are sadly ready to become desert rats in the process. Recently, Dangote’s net worth rose to N8.4 trillion. thereby making him richer than 30 independent African countries. These are the countries where our youths are Andrewing to! (If you don’t know Andrew, the young man who desperately wanted to check out of Nigeria, then you are still a taata!).
Unfortunately, it is not only the idle, skill-less and hopeless youths that are involved in this mad rush out of Nigeria. Even those whom we regard as fortunate enough to have gainful employment (at least, their take-home pay can take them home, and they still have some change) and are perceived as well-off by local standards are also rushing into this tunnel where the only certainty is uncertainty. On 11/12/21, a young man working in one of our highly principled and stable foreign banks told me that 30 of his colleagues had checked out in the last 12 months. When I asked why, he gave this saddening analysis: that everybody wants to leave because Nigeria is not working and living here is hard and harsh. People are either killed by UGM, unknown soldiers in search of IPOB members, police stray bullets, herdsmen, or falling containers. You are also harassed and openly extorted by security operatives (some of whom use POS machines or escort you to the ATM points to withdraw cash for them), and that is where it ends because you cannot get justice and nobody cares. The government has abdicated its responsibilities and left the people to their fate. You cannot get anything from any government agency unless you know somebody who knows somebody. You cannot get any job unless you are a child or a close relation of PEPs, as the people in government are busy preparing their children to lead our children. And even when you are doing well, there is uncertainty everywhere because a single, ill-conceived government policy, introduced without notice and without a transition period, will just finish you! He concluded that the future is bleak (to be concluded).
Ik Muo, PhD. Department of Business Administration, OOU, Ago-Iwoye. 00833026625.
