The increasing wave of emigration of Nigerians to other parts of the world provoked more public attention penultimate Thursday with the official revelation that Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) issued a total of 1,899,683 passports in 2022, the highest in a single year, and in the last seven years. The reason for the demand for passports is not difficult to fathom. The situation in situ is dire for a broad spectrum of professionals, artisans, and even those without any skills, hence the desperation to search for opportunities in other climes for survival.
Admittedly, the craving of professionals to ply their trades abroad is not new. The urge birthed the “brain drain” syndrome in academia in the 1980s. Medical doctors, nurses and students followed suit; but the exodus of those years cannot be compared to the current scale. The situation has made the phenomenon called “Japa” – in Yoruba language, which means to run, or escape – as comic an issue, as it has…
