In the late 1980s, the urge to leave Nigeria by many citizens was so strong that government had to sponsor an enlightenment campaign on a Network programme of the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA). The programme was tagged ‘I’m checking out!’
In the short drama, the lead actor, ‘Andrew’ (the late Nollywood actor, Enebeli Enebuwa) was seen complaining bitterly about the harsh economic condition of Nigeria and how he would not take it any longer. With a canvass bag on his shoulder and a sweeping swagger, he blurted out: “I’m Checking Out!’
But another character, who acted as a patriotic Nigerian, was seen urging him not to do so, but to stay back and help to salvage the country from the ruins. That was precisely in 1984.
Enebuwa, who though rose to the pinnacle of his career as an actor, never saw the dream Nigeria. Instead, things continued to so degenerate that 28 years after he made the feeble attempt to check out, he did “Check out” to India in 2012 on medical ground, when it was too late. And died there. Perhaps, he may have been alive today, had he checked out in 1984!
Today, it is difficult to see many Nigerians, particularly the youths, who believe there is anything salvageable in Nigeria; hence, the increasing quest by many to quit the country by every means possible.
The introduction of the Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) by the then Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida’s regime inflicted excruciating pain on Nigerians, so much that many citizens decided to leave the country for some breath of fresh air.
Over three decades after ‘Andrew’ threatened to “check out”, portraying the desperation and frustration of Nigerians in the country, Nigeria’s fortunes have taken a deeper dip.
The Nigeria story is a pathetic one and there appears not to be light at the end of a long tunnel. Many Nigerians are not just making threats of “checking out,” they are indeed checking out on account of worsening political situation and socio-economic quagmire which have combined to kill joy in the country.
In his piece ‘The Exodus of Nigerian Doctors’ published in one of the national dailies last Thursday, Olusegun Adeniyi, a former presidential spokesman, said: “…the question is important against the background of what happened last Saturday in Lagos, when hundreds of young Nigerian medical doctors converged at the premises of a hotel in Ikeja for a recruitment test conducted by the Saudi Arabia health ministry. A few weeks earlier, dozens of others were at the British Council to sit for the regular Professional Linguistic Assessments Board (PLAB) exams that will enable them to emigrate to the United Kingdom to practise medicine.
“While I cannot count the number of young professionals I know who have either moved to Canada or Australia in recent weeks (many of them with their families), the case of medical doctors deserves special attention. In addition to the UK and Saudi Arabia, many of them are also heading towards South Africa, United Arab Emirates (UAE) and just about any country where their talents could be put to use in a rewarding manner.”
Unlike in the 1980s when many of those who left the country went to pick jobs (brain drain) as there were none in-country, today, many who leave Nigeria do not have any idea of what they are going to do abroad; they just want to get out.
In 1984, government succeeded in dissuading many citizens to stay back and salvage the country together with the authorities; but 35 years down the line, nothing has been salvaged. The country today is ravaged by rising cases of armed robbery; kidnapping; ritual killings; bribery and corruption; collapsed public infrastructure; Boko Haram insurgency; falling standard of education; rampaging killer herdsmen; assassinations, high level of unemployment, shambolic elections, mockery of fight against corruption, subterfuge, and a host of other maladies that have taken over the country.
The conduct of the 2019 general election, which many Nigerians have regarded as shambolic, appears to have further eroded the faith of many Nigerians in the country. And since after the elections, many Nigerians have started to question their continued stay in the country.
Analysts converged on the opinion that the conduct of the elections was the worst outing by any election umpire in the history of Nigeria.
A young man, who simply identified himself as Jude, told a story of two uncles of his who cheated death by relocating to America where their daughters live.
“I have two uncles. One retired as a school principal with his wife also; the other retired from a private firm. When the challenges of old age began to take toll on them, they began to fall sick every now and then. Good a thing, the two of them have daughters who live in America with their families. It is over six years they have been in America; if you see their pictures, they look like new babies with their wives. I am very sure, if they had been in Nigeria, they would have died two years back because of their health status while here.”
Want to emigrate? Here’s the legal way
Speaking with BDSUNDAY, a manager with an agency which helps Nigerians to process their visa applications for skilled-migration or studentship, said applications for emigration had so increased in the last few months that his office now entertains about 20 daily.
According to him, “emigration is not very easy because it takes between 11 and 12 months before you complete the process. But if it is students’ visa, it takes about three months. So, it is easier for young people to go than adults. Many of the adults that go there leverage on their children who either went to study initially and after they finished their studies, they have their permanent residency (PR).”
The manager, who pleaded anonymity, said: “Many people are so desperate that they are seeking visas to travel without any skill. Canada needs skilled manpower. So, you must have a skill that they need and which you also need to survive on. They do not just grant you visa for the sake of it. It is easier for students, and as a student you can work for 40 hours a week. Apart from Canada, Australia is another hot place people are rushing to now for studies and migration.”
Zebulon Agomuo, Obinna Emelike, Amaka Anagor-Ewuzie, Ifeoma Okeke, Isaac Anyaogu and Caleb Ojewale
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