COMMENTARY

By Tosin Ayinde

The street slang, Japa, first became popular when Afrobeat singer, Naira Marley dropped a single, titled: Japa. A line from the lyrics reads: Japa, japa, ko japa lo London. Trust Nigerians, it didn’t take long before the slang quickly found expression in the lives of forward-looking Nigerians who couldn’t withstand the adversities of the country’s economic woes which have continued to spur the loss of most of our best brains to more advanced climes – human-capital flight.

The migration of highly skilled professionals and the not-so-skilled to the UK, USA, Canada, Germany, and the likes, though justifiable, at least from the individuals’ point of view, is quite worrisome for a nation. Nigerians, due to poor working conditions, low living standards, infrastructural decay, and rising insecurity, have continued to seek greener pastures where the lawns are greener, not minding the higher taxes that come with it. More importantly, these Nigerians who aspire to relocate, in most cases, do this to secure the future of their children as they seem to have lost hope in Nigeria. The absence of enabling environment in Nigeria, often times, is a misnomer, which has necessitated the influx of Nigerian immigrants to UK.

In regulating its International Education Policy, the Chatham House is proposing a new law that prevents Nigerian students, and others studying in the UK from bringing family as dependents except under specific circumstances. Essentially, the government plans to bring immigration into the country, which currently stands at about 1 million, down. This new proposal will undoubtedly defeat Nigerians’ bid to escape from the Nigerian situation in search of greener pastures. For example, a World Bank report reveals that Nigeria ranks 150 out of 157 countries in the year 2020 in the Human Capital Index. More worrisome is this development as Income inequality and economic disparity has continued to increase with dire consequences on the government’s efforts to alleviate poverty.

It’s noteworthy that the increasing level of poverty in the country has triggered this Japa syndrome as more Nigerians seek solace abroad either as students or caregivers in the UK. More reports reveal that high inflation in Nigeria, in 2020, also took a toll on welfare at the household level thereby pushing additional 7 million people into poverty. From 2019 to 2023, the number of Nigerians living below the international poverty line is expected to rise by 12 million as the Nigerian labour space continues to be threatened by gloomy economic conditions.

The ban to restrict student-migrants from traveling and living in the UK under the guise of studies is a disturbing news for intending migrants as the UK government, also plans to remove the permission for international students to switch out of the student route and into work routes before their studies have been completed to prevent misuse of the visa system. A Sky News report reveals that a review of the maintenance requirement for students and dependents is underway.

Sky News Report reads:  “There will also be a review of the maintenance requirement for students and dependents and a crackdown on “unscrupulous” education agents “who make use of inappropriate applications to sell immigration, not education.”

Primarily, the ban will be effective from January 2024 so as to allow students starting courses in the UK time to plan to adapt to the new rules. It’s noteworthy that this blanket ban is coming to effect as a result of policy review by the UK government to put stricter laws in place to bring down the climbing number of immigrants into the country via studies.

Suella Braverman, Home Secretary, United Kingdom, while speaking on this issue disclosed that recent immigration figures showed an “unexpected rise” in the number of dependents coming to the UK alongside international students, adding that the increase was made after the government made its commitment to lower net migration.” She further explained that while the government’s strategy around international education plays an important part in supporting the economy, it should not be at the expense of our commitment to the public to lower overall migration.

Also, the Home Secretary said the package strikes the right balance between acting decisively on tackling net migration and protecting the economic benefits that students can bring to the UK. To further support this claim, a statement on the UK’s Home Office official site adds that the “New government restrictions to student visa routes will substantially cut net migration by restricting the ability for international students to bring family members on all but postgraduate research routes and banning people from using a student visa as a backdoor route to work in the UK.

However, the Home Office has said that this new proposal can’t detract from the success of the government’s International Education Strategy, including meeting the target to host 600,000 international higher education students studying in the UK each year by 2030, for two years running. Also, according to a Sky News report, new data show that foreign students brought 135,788 family members to Britain in 2022 – nine times more than in 2019 while in 2022, 59,053 Nigerian students brought over 60,923 relatives.

The hopes of intending student-migrants, who may be aspiring to leave Nigeria with their families to live in the UK under the guise of seeking greener pastures, may have been dashed in view of the new travel restrictions. On the flipside, this development, perhaps, presents an excellent opportunity for the in-coming administration to look inward and proffer lasting solutions to the country’s basic economic problems in a bid to retain local talents, expertise, and ultimately reduce brain drain resulting from human-capital flight, for a greater Nigeria.

Meiza Nigeria