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FROM ‘JAPA’ TO ‘JAPADA’: NIGERIAN RETURNEES TELL UNPLEASANT EXPERIENCES IN FOREIGN LANDS
It is no secret that many Nigerians want to “japa” to greener pastures so that they can enjoy the good things of life in other countries as well as benefit from the hospitable environment afforded by their choice of migration destinations.
However, an emerging locution in popular culture, japada, is now increasingly being used to describe the unpleasant experience of Nigerians who return to the country after running into peculiar difficulties while trying to sort out immigration or other personal issues in foreign countries.
As per immigration issues, the stringent conditions placed on living in some foreign countries do not always favour Nigerians and despite their attempts to meander through such conditions, they run into brick walls and do not curry the sympathy of their host countries.
As for personal issues, this can be family, psychological, financial, emotional or other specific matters of the heart and Nigerians, in no small way, struggle to come to terms with these challenges.
The cold weather often affects the health or even the mood of Nigerians. When they are abroad, most Nigerians long for their country’s bright sun and yearn for the days when they can, with reckless abandon, wear boxers or loose-fitting clothing.
And then many young Nigerians want to be loved. They dream about settling in marriage and have children. Unfortunately, most Nigerians who are single and searching argue that living abroad, more often than not, reduces chance encounters with other singles and this experience, according to them, can be downright frustrating.
All these and many others are the reasons why many young Nigerians are returning home for the time being.
Before the nitty-gritty of this compelling subject, however, a further description of japa and japada will shed light on these highly controversial Yoruba expressions.
Japa is a slang that originates from the Yoruba language spoken in Nigeria and describes the practice of relocating to a foreign country. Consisting of two words “ja” and “pa,” it translates into “escape” or “flee” or “break free” in English language.
On the other hand, Japada, a phrase, has “ja” and “pada’ and literally means to “escape or flee from a foreign country to Nigeria” and in this case, it is a “breaking free” back to Nigeria.
Back to the matter at hand, travelling out of Nigeria to better oneself is a daunting task. But then again, trying to establish oneself in another country is a different kettle of fish and could be tasking.
Nigerians are known to sell properties and even portions of land to foot the cost of travelling abroad and unfortunately, many have been duped and thrown into debts that have proven difficult to pay off.
Many Nigerians also undertake perilous migrations across hot and unforgiving deserts to get to Europe. However, while at it, innocent souls ignorantly sell their freedom to those they thought would give them free passage to Spain. They end up being trafficked and turned to slaves in hostile North African countries such as Libya.
Many more Nigerians leave their means of livelihood and others their career, for travelling out of the country. However, when they either get to the United States, United Kingdom or Europe, they take up menial jobs there. Their university degrees obtained in Nigeria are rejected by employers or not given the deserved respect.
Students have also been known to arrive in a country, such as the UK, only for its government to begin campaigning against migrant congestion in their country. Before long, policies are formulated that do not favour foreign students and activate their “japada” mechanism.
Indeed, a lot of foreign countries are not smiling again.
Already, the UK has reviewed and published new immigration laws that will fully come into effect next month.
The laws will greatly impact popular immigration routes, including graduate immigration route and family as well as dependent visa, which is a favourite among Nigerians attending UK schools and planning to bring their families over.
Lately, the economies of most European countries have been struggling. In fact, the UK and many others like it are in recession.
Canada has a housing shortage going on in the country right now and the North American country, usually a welcoming country, has seen its citizens crying out on social media for solutions. Canadians have also been expressing worry about the increasing strain on social services.
For the first time, Canada announced this year that it would begin limiting the number of temporary foreign workers accepted into the country. And not just this, the Justin Tradeau-led government said there are more than 28,000 failed refugee claimants who would soon be deported from the country.
In the United States, migrants have been a thorn in the side of security agencies in the state of Texas, an entry point from Mexico for migrants coming to the US from Caribbean and South American countries.
The border crisis in the US is one of the key points former president, Donald Trump, is using to campaign, promising to carry out the greatest mass deportation in the US if he wins the country’s November 5, 2024 presidential election in the country.
Loneliness is a not-so-soothing personal issue for Nigerians in most European and other foreign countries. Many single and eligible Nigerian males and females have gotten to the US, UK or Europe and had quite a culture shock with how relationships with the opposite sex could be started.
Many Nigerians, especially females, have lamented how difficult it is for them to find men for marriage in America and Europe and they claim that loneliness is “killing” them.
One such lady, Agnes Anaba, said, “I was a student when I was living in Hartford (UK). The tuition fees were pretty high and my family needed to borrow to see me through school.
“Luckily, I finished school but getting a good job was not forthcoming.
“Finding a husband, too, remained elusive for me in the UK and to make matters worse, they refused to renew my visa. That was when I decided to come home last year.
“About three months after coming home, I met my husband. He has his own business and is doing well for himself. This is how my own japada experience became permanent.”
Racism and bureaucracy have been huge factors, too. Nigerians have complained about job opportunities they lost because of their skin colour and nationality. They insist that they were disqualified from getting their dream jobs after going through different stages of job interviews.
There is also another group of Nigerians living abroad legally and may have even become citizens or have thriving businesses overseas, who have to be enticed to come home and invest in Nigeria.
It is these Nigerians that the president, Bola Tinubu, who himself used to be in the diaspora, pleaded with, in September last year, to japada.
At a meeting in New York organised by the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission, Tinubu tried to convince this diaspora group to come home and explore the business opportunities in Nigeria.
“Take it this night that Nigeria is home for business opportunities.
“Also, anywhere you stay (including Nigeria), there is always going to be an opportunity, and in everything you do, there is always going to be an opportunity if you to know how to search and put your mind into it,’’ Tinubu said.
A current affairs analyst, Ben Njoku, said, “For those who have been living abroad with businesses there, it will be difficult for them to relocate back to Nigeria.
“Except they see changes in the attitude of the government and that there is a climate conducive for doing business, they will never japada.
“As for those who have one leg in a foreign country and the other leg out, instead of wasting their lives out there and being treated like second class citizens, they should retrace their steps and come back home. There is nowhere like home.“Something tells me that this Tinubu government will make a lot of progress, but let us wait and see.”
