House Of Reps Rejects Motion Stopping Migration Of Nigerian Youths, Doctors, Other Professionals

The Nigerian House of Representatives, on Thursday, rejected a motion seeking to address incessant migration of Nigerian youths, especially professionals who have distinguished themselves in various disciplines, from the country, to get permanent residences in foreign countries.

The member representing Ado/Okpokwu/Ogbadibo Federal Constituency of Benue State, Philip Agbese, had moved a motion on the floor, urging his colleagues to support and pass resolutions, to curtail what he described as “JAPA syndrome.”

Rep. Dennis Idahosa representing Ovia Federal Constituency of Edo State, seconded the motion and urged members to support it.

While leading a debate on the motion, Agbese expressed great concern that, “the growing statistics of young Nigerians leaving Nigeria and securing permanent residence in the United Kingdom, the USA and Canada portends a grave danger for our nation in many ways from economic to intellectual and social aspects.

“Also concerned that the Nigerian population is made of two-thirds of persons under the age of 30 and a good number of these persons are already afflicted with what today is acceptably referred to as the “JAPA SYNDROME”, as estimates indicate a staggering tens of thousands have relocated to the USA, Canada, South Africa, and even Gambia over the last two years.”

In opposing the motion, Reps Sada Soli (Katsina State) raised a point of order that the motion was in contradiction of the constitutional rights of citizens to freely move in and out of the country.

Canada, the United Kingdom, the United States are some of the top destinations for Nigerian youths relocating in pursuit of better education, employment and security purposes, among other reasons.

Nigeria has recently witnessed an uptick in the number of skilled workers migrating to other countries. Many of these migrants graduated from Nigerian universities, which are highly subsidised by the government. Those who seek greener abroad take with them years of training and skills acquired locally.

There are concerns that human capital export has created a manpower gap in different sectors of the Nigerian economy. And one of the most affected sectors has been health, where doctors and nurses have been migrating in droves in recent years. The Information and Communication Technology and engineering sectors have also had a fair share of the japa (a Nigerian colloquial for migration) syndrome.

The Speaker, Tajudeen Abbas, urged the Nigerian government to convene a national summit with key stakeholders to “effectively address the syndrome.”