By Dr. Waheed Ogunjobi.
I grew up hearing the slogan “Ghana Must Go,” an uproar against Ghanaians in Nigeria in the early 1980s when their numbers swelled as Ghana’s economy collapsed.
The sitiation then got so infamous that a lasting symbol was left behind: the big checkered polythene bag used to ferry their load is still called “Ghana Must Go” today. The memory is ugly, but the meaning then was clear. Nigeria’s economy was huge and attractive enough to draw migrants from across West Africa. Ghanaians found refuge here when their own country could not hold them.
That was 1983. Several years down the line, the slogan has changed. It is no longer Ghana Must Go, but "Nigerians Must Go". It is a new wave and it is unpalatable to say the least.
It is an irony, and an ominous sign of bad governance at home
What changed is the push from within. Poor governance in Nigeria has become the single biggest driver of outward migration. Economic instability, high poverty rates, unemployment, and the collapse of basic services like healthcare and education push young people to seek better livelihoods abroad.
Political instability, insecurity, corruption, and nepotism make staying feel like a gamble with one’s future.
The population of Nigerians living in diaspora has grown rapidly, with an estimated 17 million Nigerians living abroad as of 2025, including 2.1 million first-generation emigrants.
The surge has been most visible since the “Japa” wave took off after 2021.
Between 2023 and 2024 alone, over 43,000 healthcare workers reportedly left the country, including 4,193 doctors and dentists in 2024.
The UK, Canada, and the US remain top destinations, with 65,929 UK study visas issued to Nigerians in 2022, up from 8,384 in 2019.
Passport issuance also reflects the trend: 2.14 million passports were issued in 2023, compared to 1.3 million in 2021.
A visit to any passport office in Nigeria will reveal the trend as Nigerians on a daily basis queue at the passport office to sort out their travel document preparatory for the greener pasture.
The economic push is clear. Naira devaluation, inflation above 28%, and rising poverty have made local earnings unsustainable for skilled workers.
As a result, remittances from Nigerians abroad hit $21 billion in 2024, even exceeding foreign direct investment and providing a critical inflow to the economy.
In short, “Japa” has moved from a youth slang to a measurable demographic shift.
Nigeria is no longer just exporting talent—it is experiencing systemic talent extraction that will shape the country’s workforce and economy for years to come.
Studies on Nigerian migration point to a direct correlation between weak governance and the surge in people leaving.
Since 2019, the “japa” wave has accelerated, fueled by unemployment and uncertainty about the country’s direction.
The political elite have failed to address the security and economic challenges at home, and so citizens have begun to treat migration as a survival strategy.
The flip side is playing out in South Africa, where xenophobic violence has become a recurring scar.
In 2008, at least 62 people were killed and 100,000 displaced in a wave of attacks on foreign nationals.
Similar outbreaks hit in 2015, 2019, and 2022. Between 1994 and August 2025, documented incidents resulted in 694 deaths, 5,648 looted shops, and 128,849 displacements.
The latest outbreak between April 27 and 29, 2026, in Pretoria and Johannesburg claimed the lives of two Nigerians, Amaramiro Emmanuel and Ekpenyong Andrew. Nigerian officials say more than 100 Nigerians have been killed in xenophobic incidents since 2019.
The pattern is familiar: a flashpoint, a wave of violence, a slow response, a task team, then silence until the next cycle.
Groups like Operation Dudula have made anti-foreigner sentiment more open and political, framing migrants as economic threats in a country where unemployment hovers above 30 percent.
Looking at the South African hostilities against Nigerians, I shuddered to think about the country’s past generosity to South Africa during the inglorious Apartheid era. As a young elementary school goer in Nigeria back then, I also remember vividly with nostalgia how we were forced to recite the slogan condemning the white occupation of South Africa..
The recitation goes thus: " Apartheid is a Crime Against Hummaity". We would recite and our administors then would urge us to repeat it- " Again" . And so the beat continues and resonated. So, it is the same South Africans that now see Nigerians as illegal occupation of the same land we helped them solidarised to secure.
The irony of the whole thing howver is the fact that the hostility is no longer confined to South Africa.
In July 2025, dozens of Ghanaians staged “Nigerians Must Go” protests in Accra, Kumasi, and Takoradi. Placards read “Armed robbery and violent attacks must stop” and “Nigerians are kidnapping and using people for rituals.”
Ghanaian protesters accused Nigerians of crime, prostitution, and economic dominance, reviving old grievances that had lain dormant since the 1980s.
Similar anti-Nigerian sentiment has surfaced in Togo and other West African states, often tied to economic frustration and misinformation online.
Across the region, Nigerians are being scapegoated for unemployment, crime, and housing shortages. Ghana has since petitioned the African Union to intervene, while Nigeria has summoned South Africa’s High Commissioner and begun arranging voluntary repatriation for citizens in South Africa.
As of May 3, 2026, 130 Nigerians had registered for evacuation flights.
The irony is bitter. Nigeria once hosted millions of Ghanaians fleeing economic decline.
Now Nigerians are the ones being told to leave. The root cause, however, is not South Africa, Ghana, or Togo. It is Nigeria.
As Ramaphosa’s spokesman said in May 2026, condemnations alone are not enough. There must be willingness to constructively engage on the factors behind people seeking to leave their countries of birth.
Fixing things back home requires confronting bad governance directly. That means diversifying the economy beyond oil, creating jobs, restoring security, and strengthening institutions so opportunity is a right and not a privilege tied to who you know.
Corruption and the collapse of public services have made Nigeria a country many feel compelled to flee.
Pan-Africanism sounds sweet in speeches, but on the streets it is about survival. Until Nigeria becomes a country worth staying in, the slogan will keep changing, and the bags will keep packing.
The shift from hosting migrants to producing them is not just a diplomatic embarrassment. It is evidence that the state has failed in its most basic duty to protect and provide for its people.
If that does not change, more Africans will join the queue of those fleeing, and more Nigerians will face hostility abroad, paying the price for failures that began at home.
Dr. Waheed Ogunjobi a Media, Policy and Strategic Communication Specialist writes from Abeokuta and can be reached via Waheedogunjobi@gmail.com or 08035004741
| ||||||||||||||
No comments:
Post a Comment