A Brief History of Migration in Nigeria
Growing up, we read books like Chike in the River where people from the village dreamt of going to the city for a better shot at bringing their dreams to life. Then we watched movies like Osuofia goes to London, where the tides of slavery had passed and a Nigerian could go to a foreign country for education, exposure and the love of adventure. For most of us, we were content with our home and believed that our soil was fertile enough for our dreams. Now, we watch movies like Oloture that depict how the desperation to travel to foreign countries is preyed on by human traffickers. All of these stories express real pieces of migration in Nigeria. But what is the full storyline? How has migration evolved from the past till the present day?
The term “Japa” is a Yoruba word that means “to run, flee or escape”. It was popularized by Naira Marley, an afro-pop artist’s song titled Japa in 2018. This popularization led to the largely common use of the term and spotlighted the emigration and brain drain in Nigeria. Although the Japa wave became glaring during this period, Nigerian’s escapism through emigration dates back to the 1960s. Despite the fact that superficiality and humor often attached to the term quells its severity, it is much deeper and can potentially deteriorate the Nigerian economy in the future, hence why we started this Japa series to explore external emigration more keenly.
Documentation of mass migration began between 1400 and 1900, which involved the four simultaneous slave trade exportations to European colonies in the Americas. Slave trade continued until it was fully abolished in the 1950s. From then up until the 1970s, emerging elites in Nigeria began to travel to the United Kingdom and eventually the United States for educational purposes to empower themselves with knowledge and skills to become instruments for nation building. Truly, the Nigerian students returned after graduation and were readily given jobs in civil service offices, the oil sector, and other booming private sectors of the economy.
After the 1970s, the economy took a downturn due to during and post-Civil War consequences and emigration increased. This new wave of emigrants stayed longer after graduating or did not return at all. As stated by the Migration Policy Institute, “By 1978, an estimated 30,000 Nigerian graduates from UK higher institutions were living outside Africa, with 2,000 of them living in the United States. In 1984, the Nigerian population living in the United States had increased to 10,000 according to Afolayan and colleagues; many were highly skilled.”
The economy was failing and the government needed more money, so based on certain conditions, it got a loan from the International Monetary Fund. Out of these conditions was the Structured Adjustment Program, which devalued the national currency and reduced the purchasing capacity of professionals. This set tensions and increased the desperation to run. By the 2000s, Nigerians broadened migration points including Spain, Italy, Ireland, Germany, France, the Netherlands, and Belgium, as well as the Gulf States. Although Nigerians are increasingly migrating to these countries, more recently countries like Canada, Greece, South Africa, Gambia, Australia, and almost anywhere else they can get a visa into. Due to the appalling military regime and dreadful religious terrorism, some Nigerians also sought asylum in other countries and immigrated as refugees. In 2008, they had applied for asylum in 17 countries. According to UNHCR, no fewer than 12,573 Nigerians applied for asylum in Europe (mainly Italy) and other developed nations—a 71 percent increase over the 2007 figures.
Though Nigeria’s migration journey unfolds as a story borne out of desperation and an escape from hardship, there might be more to the story. In the next article of this series, we’ll discuss the realities of migration in the current generation and consider the Nigerian economic conditions fueling the flight.
