The Japa syndrome has recently been popularized by Generation Z Nigerians, but the practice is not limited to their class. It is principally about Nigerians of all walks of life relocating abroad for the much-talked about greener pastures.
The grass is usually greener at the other side. That’s the belief among different classes of Nigerians since the turn of the millennium, following the strictures of structural adjustments the economy has been exposed to. The trend has, however, been on the upward swing in the last eight years or so. Right now, it has become an epidemic.
The trend started with the brain drain syndrome of the early 1990s. Japa however took over in recent years, whereby Nigerian-trained medical practitioners, information technology experts and digital and non-digital savvy young and middle aged, civil servants, paramilitary personnel and even drivers have joined the migration train. European and Western capital cities and hinterlands have been receiving Nigerians with different skills, the east and Asian countries are also not left out.
Bankers have also joined the craze, leaving the banking halls somewhat deserted. Owing to the severity of the brain drain in the banking sector following the exodus, many of the banks have had to outsource some segments of their jobs to their run-away staff.
On the other hand of Japa is those that Japada (return home) after encountering unfavourable conditions in their chosen foreign locations. One trend that is fast emerging, however, is the situation where some staff still hold on to their Nigerian jobs after they have joined the Japa train. We can call them seku seye as the Yoruba would have it. They are neither animals nor birds. The Yoruba would say ti a ba fi agbo fun eegun, a maa n ju okun e sile ni (when you donate a ram to the masquerade, you don’t hold on to the rope around its neck). To the Yoruba, you are either an animal or a bird. The bat is only an exception and human are no bats.
Brain drain has been a challenge for Nigeria and other African countries since the late 1980s, but Japa syndrome of today is certainly an upgraded headache. Now those who hang one leg between Japa and Japada are adding to the troubles.
Dr. Samuel O. Ike, writing in the Nigerian Journal of Medicine, Vol. 16, No. 3, July-September 2007, had identified that no fewer than 100,000 Nigerian workforce is based in the United States of America. He had also submitted that as at the time of his publication, 27,000 Nigerian scientists are based in the US, while Nigerians head six of the seven best information Technology Faculties in that country.
The continental average equally shows an ever rising figure. Dr. Ike discovered that between 1960 and 1974, some 1,800 Africans migrated to the industrialised countries. The number rose to 4,000 between 1974 and 1984; 12,000 between 1985 and 1989 and climbed to 20,000 from 1990. That number had quadrupled over the years. The University College Hospital, Ibadan, one of Nigeria’s prime teaching hospitals, recently announced the loss of more than 600 doctors in less than two years. In 2022, Nigeria was said to have lost over 500 Medical Consultants to brain drain.
But the practice of those standing between Japa and Japada is what we need to condemn. It is doubtful if this can happen among medical personnel. My investigations revealed that much of those involved are in the mainstream civil service of the federal and state governments as well as the paramilitary organisations and government agencies and parastatals. For starters, Japada refers to those who left this shores and had to return almost immediately due to unfavourable conditions they met out there.
Rather than Japada, however, some Nigerians have devised a way by which they leave Nigeria, hold on to their jobs, and then keep working in their new base. Thus they earn pay from both Nigeria and their new location. This class of Nigerians are usually found in the public service and the paramilitary organisations. I was told the practice is rampant in the agencies under the Ministry of Interior and some parastatals.
According to findings, the mostly junior and middle-career staff would relocate abroad but keep their jobs under some shadowy arrangements with officials who work on the payroll. They will remain on the payroll on the understanding that only a fraction of the salary would be remitted to them each month.
The not so funny aspect of the finding is that the run-away officials are often the first to be passed fit of any internal screening and promotion examinations. So as they stand in the middle of the Japa and Japada, they enjoy maybe the best of the two worlds. They can possibly return with promotion when the time comes.
What extent of cheating can we call that one? In a country where a lot of people find it easy to cheat the system through forgery and age falsifications, many may keep a straight face to this revelation. But I am sure it is already telling on the productivity in the system. Much as this is condemnable, the fact that it is denying some genuine graduates the much-needed employment is a sad tale.
The few dedicated officials who have to cover their tasks work their sucks off, while the unscrupulous fellows stand at both the gates of two countries, earning pounds, euro, or dollars and the Naira at the same time.
Even if the victims are voiceless, it is incumbent on the authorities, the employers and governments at both the state and federal levels to plug the yawning loopholes and redress the imbalance. Monkey should not be working while baboons are smiling to the banks, home and abroad.
But this practice can only leave a sour taste in the mouth as regards the way we manage public resources. Each time you open the newspapers, you read of thousands of doctors, nurses medical officers and other professionals leaving the service but we don’t ever hear of commensurate reduction in the budgeted salaries and emoluments. In effect, it could mean that the bulk of salaries and emoluments have been going to ghost workers.
When the government of Dr. Goodluck Jonathan initiated the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS), it was to check incidents of ghost workers and undue forgery of service records. You wonder what use this has been in recent years. We even hear that desperate officials have found a way to corrupt those managing the back-end of IPPIS and then the beat goes on.
If the government is serious about ending this saga and providing jobs for those who are really in need, it must engineer a scientific staff audit that would expose the leakages.
