Japá

It is 60 years after independence, and perhaps the most prevalent prayer in the minds of young Nigerians who make up more than 40 per cent of Nigeria’s population is the acquisition of Canadian citizenship or residency. If my grandparents were to be alive, they would laud the rapidly changing world, hail the ability to see another person who is miles away only with the use of a mobile phone. They would applaud a lot of technological and innovative additions the world has experienced but might lament the unchanging nature of an inexistent national identity in Nigeria.

For a lot of Nigerians, relocating abroad with little or no intent to return has become a life goal. Only that in recent times, ‘abroad’ has come to mean Canada. According to CIC News, Nigerians’ emigration to Canada has tripled in years with Nigeria in 2019 becoming the fourth leading source country of new immigrants to Canada only behind India, China, and the Philippines. In an online survey conducted by Africa Polling Institute, 75 per cent of respondents—most of this figure which are aged between 18-35 years—claimed they were migrating for better opportunities. Whilst the emigrations note a longing for a ‘better life’, it also negatively impacts the loss of belonging young people feel to the nation. The word that has epitomized this movement for youth is ‘japá’, a Yoruba word that translates to ‘run away’. For some, the Nigerian project requires abandonment.