In a bid to escape Nigeria’s worsening socio-economic challenges, many young Nigerians embark on journeys abroad, only to encounter harsh working conditions and, in some cases, tragic deaths, Uthman Salami writes.
As the Nigerian government grapples with providing employment opportunities for its citizens and creating an environment conducive to securing decent jobs, many young Nigerians leave the country in droves, taking on jobs abroad that the locals in those countries might not consider engaging in.
The number of Nigerian students studying abroad has also steadily increased over the years, as many seek to escape the challenges of poor governance and frequent disruptions to academic activities caused by unions such as the Academic Staff Union of Universities and the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities, among others.
Families are putting up properties they have spent years acquiring to raise funds to help their children escape the overwhelming challenges their country is facing. They are seeking a future elsewhere, far from the troubled Nigeria.
But pressure from home, school fees, utility bills, and hectic work hours in their newfound homes is pushing many of these Nigerians, especially those in the United Kingdom, to sickness and, in extreme instances, their early grave.
Some of the challenges facing Nigerians abroad are captured by a young woman from Abeokuta, Ogun State named Adijat Akanni (not her actual name), who graduated from the Obafemi Awolowo University in Ile Ife with a degree in pharmaceuticals.
She told this reporter that her father, who sells meat, used his only house as collateral to borrow money from a Nigerian bank to pay for her schooling abroad.
Shockingly enough, she lamented that her father and the bank the family borrowed the money from had started to demand monthly payback barely a month after she had arrived in Luton, England, in the UK.
