By Ahmad Sajoh
Today the most popular slang among Nigerian Youth is “JAPA”.
What this simply means is to check out of the country, to escape or to relocate to other countries of Europe, America and Asia.
So next time you hear JAPA from your son or daughter, know that he or she has given up on you and the country. It’s sad. It’s tragic.
For a country so richly blessed and so abundantly endowed, this is not cheering news. Our youth are among the most productive segments of society. They have made us proud all over the world. Now they are giving up on us and they want to “japa”
At present, whether we like it or not, most of the good news out of Nigeria comes from the exploits of the youth. Recently at a medical conference in London, the music that gingered the audience the most is “buga” by a Nigerian Youth.
All over the world if you go to any place music is played, you must hear a song by a Nigerian artist. In sports, which we consider the most unifying force in Nigeria, it’s the exploits of the youth that is the pivot. The creative industry as a whole is a youth driven industry.
You may question our prowess in ICT and attach so much negative to Yahoo Yahoo, but many other positives are also being achieved in that field. Our digital economy is essentially driven by young people.
There are more young professionals of Nigerian origin making waves outside Nigeria than within the country. Jelani was a top notch auto designer in the world, we brought him back to Nigeria and ended up deeming his career and making him another “has been”.
Why is all of this happening to my country? Why are the youth giving up on their country? As the leaders of tomorrow, do they now believe that the tomorrow we have been talking about really does not exist? But most importantly do the political elite really understand and appreciate the import of this tragedy?
As parents we should be worried that our children are saying they do not need the inheritance we are bequeathing to them. Is it not tragic that as Africans we are proud to remember our ancestors but now we want to forsake our successors? For me, that’s the tragedy of the Japa syndrome.
As a geographic entity, Nigeria is a fine country with defined boundaries and definite territory. However, we have failed to evolve into a nation state.
Statehood is beyond sharing common boundaries. Nationhood is about shared visions, shared goals, shared values, shared identities, which may be plural but woven together with a common thread of hope. Do we have such a situation in Nigeria today?
Honestly, my answer to that question is an emphatic NO. For all the years we have been together as a country, the only areas we have some semblance of communality is in the negatives.
We have somehow deliberately or unknowingly accepted certain negatives as part of our national ethos. Patronage system, corruption, materialism, promotion of mediocrity above merit and materialism are the creeds we promote above all others.
We cannot stop our children from “Japa” if we do not restore hope in our land. But we cannot restore hope in our land unless we address certain fundamental questions agitating our political setup and our configuration as a nation.
These deep rooted issues can be found in the manner we have decided to govern our country. The manner the political elites have configured the template for leadership recruitment and governance.
How do we get out of this quagmire and restore hope in our land? The solution lies in addressing four cardinal issues.
Of the four, the most important is leadership. Yes, we need to reset everything about leadership in Nigeria.
Our leadership recruitment process is devoid of all trappings of merit or capacity. Either we are looking for the person with the shadiest past or the person with the deepest pocket or worst of all an errand person with no mind of his or her own.
When political godfathers prop up someone for leadership, it’s just in order that their narrow interest will be served. In addition, leadership in Nigeria has been reduced to just a title stripped of all sense of obligation or responsibility. It’s more of a trophy to be won for self, region, religion or ethnic group. Hence, leaders in Nigeria have become increasingly provincial, parochial and self-centered. Consequently, attaining nationhood had been most difficult if not impossible for our country.
The second irony we need to address is our concept of democracy.
In Nigeria, we are increasingly equating democracy with periodic elections. Yes, freedom of choice of leadership through an electoral process is a key ingredient of democracy. But it does not represent democracy.
Democracy is a lot more than just holding periodic elections. It’s a concept that covers a whole gamut of issues such as openness, transparency, accountability and collective designing and promotion of pathways to development.
One of the key guardrails of democracy is the political party. But in Nigeria our political parties are really not political parties at all. They have increasingly lost their roles as tools for promoting a democratic culture.
Political parties in Nigeria have become mere special purpose vehicles for contesting elections. Hollow and stripped of either character or ideology, the political parties in Nigeria simply provide avenues for politicians to play musical chairs by moving from one to the other as it suits them best for the time being.
The fourth of the contradictions we need to address is the nature of our distorted federalism.
Coming from the background of long military rule, we have configured our federalism in the mould of a regimented system of governance where we treat most issues as “agbo” or traditional medicine. It’s only traditional medicine that one solution cures all ailments.
Why must our federating units move at the same pace? Why do we have uniform systems even within locations where prevailing conditions are totally different?
We need a Federation that encourages the sub-national entities to be responsible and more responsive to the needs of their people. A federation where the citizens connect easily with their leadership. A federation where the sub-national entities can address issues of welfare and security of citizens squarely. This is indeed a requirement for restoring hope in the country.
Can we stop our young people from “Japa”? Yes we can. But we cannot do it with the same mindset we used in creating the condition that necessitates the Japa syndrome in the first place.
As always I come in peace.
1 Comment
Well written. Yes, we can. With good governance and Sincerity of purpose.