For many people, the joke is on those who expect citizens of wealthy foreign countries to flock to a place like Nigeria and take up permanent residence to seek better opportunities. The joke is that it is nigh impossible, because the grass is greenest in their countries. Only missionaries make such compelling sacrifices. And in their own case, they are driven by the gospel.
Naturally, it is those whose live a living death in their countries wherever those may be that would do everything to move to countries where they can find some stability and succor.
This explains why migration has become such a raging issue in today`s world. It explains why people from countries torn apart by poverty and conflicts take impossible risks to move to other countries where they live under backbreaking conditions just to improve their lives and possibly support those they left behind at home.
It is telling of the trajectory of life in Nigeria that every year, a worrying number of Nigerians seek to migrate to other countries. The urgency with which many Nigerians seek to leave the country every year speaks more to an escape than just travel. In many ways, it speaks to a systemic problem in the country that many deem insoluble.
Diaspora diamonds
Nigerians are found all over the world. There is hardly any country of the world where Nigerians do not live in and try to eke out a living. And in spite of the considerable number of Nigerians in countries across the world, they fit in nicely and take up honest work, thereby shunting those whose specialty is formenting trouble in other countries into an exceptionable minority.
Drain brain is a huge problem in Nigeria. This problem is exacerbated by the sheer number of people wo want to make the jump abroad.Nigeria continues to lose their best human resources to other countries who do what is needed to attract and keep them. Education tourism and medical tourism continue to deplete Nigeria`s foreign reserves as the country continues to grapple with a disgruntled and a dispirited citizenry.
A wintry warning
The Nigerians in Diaspora Commission was established pursuant to an Act of the National Assembly to provide for the engagement of Nigerians in Diaspora in the policies, projects and development of Nigeria, and for the purpose of utilizing the human capital and material resources of Nigerians in Diaspora towards the overall socio-economic, cultural and political development of Nigeria and for related matters.
Recently, the commission had a chilling warning for Nigerians already living in Northern Cyprus or those who had designs on going there. According to Abike Dabiri Erewa, the Chiarman of the commission, the country was not safe. She warned that with the country unrecognized by the United Nations, many Nigerian students had been killed there.
However, in a cynical twist of events, a group of Nigerian students under the aegis of the Nigerian Community in Northern Cyprus(NCNC) has rebuffed the warning and insisted that Nigerian students are safer in Northern Cyprus than in Northern Nigeria. Dismissing the warning, the group which held a mini demonstration during which members held up several banners insisted that its members in Northern Cyprus remain safe and free from abduction, harassment, terrorism and killing of any form.
While the exchange between Nigerians living in Northern Cyprus and the Federal Government again highlights the tension between some Nigerians in the diaspora and the Federal Government, it bears note that Nigerian students have met grisly ends in Northern Cyprus before. In fact, the country has never ceased to be a source of concern for many Nigerians as unpalatable stories of crimes committed against Nigerians have never ceased to flow from the country.
Things may not be as they should be in Nigeria. However, while doing its bit to ensure the safety of Nigerians in the diaspora, the Federal Government must be given the benefit of doubt. It would only be fair that those who would at least be asked to account if something goes wrong with Nigerians anywhere should be taken seriously when they try to be proactive.
Kene Obiezu,
Twitter: @kenobiezu
