Nigerians and greener pastures abroad

WELL before the All Progressives Congress (APC) administration came to power more than a year ago, many Nigerians have been melancholic, apathetic and deeply discouraged with life.

Today, more than a year after the “government of change” came to power, majority of Nigerians are still being forced to consider that APC cannot give the necessary relief from the socio-economic and infrastructural storms buffeting this nation. Many Nigerians are doing a rethink and weighing the options of either digging deep for a better tomorrow or searching for greener pastures abroad. Preference for either option comes at a cost, but Nigerians are bracing themselves for whatever is necessary to be done to overcome their present social and economic conditions.

The old fatherly protection that President Muhammadu Buhari’s pre-election rhetoric commanded is fast becoming a wishful thinking in the face of the downturn of the economy and the high cost of living in present-day Nigeria, especially from the increase in transportation to exorbitant and skyrocketing house rents and many other daily needs of the people, including foodstuffs. President Buhari’s talk of a better future is morphing into an expensive fiction and this is encouraging intense repulsion of majority of Nigerians who once had the deepest faith in his ability to turn things around.

Even the most ardent and convinced apostles of change are admitting, in their private lives, that Nigerians are yet to reap any benefit from the philosophy of change that overwhelmed Nigerians like a whirlwind, more than a year ago. The supposed triumphal progress of change is being hobbled by social and economic forces that are radically resizing Nigerians and making survival a Herculean task across the nation. It is true that President Muhammadu Buhari is attempting to slough off our profound habit of profligacy, waste and corruption but the war is uncertain, and the punishment on the average Nigerians, unbearable.

Since the Nigerian nation has proved to be a veritable poor vessel for the progressive aspirations of those who inhabit it, many are voting with their legs, as it were, to near and distant shores in search of greener pastures as a way out of their present social and economic rot. Caught between the wind of hope and a better future, Nigerians are finding their way to Ghana, Seychelles, Equatorial Guinea, Libya, Egypt, Europe, US, Russia, India, China and other supposed greener pastures. With unstinting confidence, Nigerians are embracing the orthodoxy of the Diaspora as a panacea for their present woes.

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Today, thousands of Nigerians gamble on emigration, for a better life elsewhere. Husbands are leaving behind long-suffering wives in search of greener pastures. Wives are abandoning jobless husbands in search of gold in foreign lands. Smart Nigerians from both the lower and middle-class homes have now embraced the reality of the rat race and the limitless opportunities offered in the Diaspora. The collapses of time and space which are the direct beneficiaries of globalization have transformed our world into a global village.

Increasingly, there are concerns about the stubborn centralism and elitism of our governing machinery and political culture coupled with the social strains of an unequal and unbalanced economy that is still struggling to deliver the dividends and gains of change a year after change became a new word in Nigeria’s political lexicon that must now be interrogated.

Therefore, looking for greener pastures abroad is a way to reject any reality of resignation to risky living. Many Nigerians who dream of new life elsewhere are embracing the orthodoxy of the frontier spirit, adventurism, living on the edge, daringness, freedom and the desire to break out of the gravity pull of daily lack and poverty. To the Diaspora-minded Nigerians, a new awareness is emerging that is radically transcending suffering and straitened circumstances and is embodying and expressing a value that inspires, ennobles and seeks a solution.

However, living away in a foreign land has its merits and demerits. On the one hand, Nigerians have made tremendous progress in all areas of human endeavours worldwide: We are rugged, smart, intelligent and resource-oriented when faced with challenges. Most host nations appreciate the energy, the hard work, enthusiasm and creativity of the average Nigerian worker. For a brief while, emigrating Nigerians feel safe in the safe havens foreign provided by countries, but they soon realize that pastures are not necessarily green in those countries when discrimination and racism stare them straight in the face. On the other hand, brain drain or loss of human capital from developing to developed nations is a huge loss to the former. Families in the former are torn apart as western culture erodes their cultures; loneliness supervenes, further deepening intense dislike of Nigeria, their fatherland; very often, dreams are aborted and, in a worst case scenario, greener pastures have turned dry and brown for many Nigerians who took the risk.

The antidote? Nigerian politicians (elected and appointed) should put their best legs foremost and end the awful and scary life of joblessness by putting paid to corruption and investing in job-creating ventures and creating a conducive environment for the real sector of the economy to create employments for the teeming millions that are churned out of Nigerian universities every year.