When the COVID-19 pandemic started five years ago, it opened the gates of easy migration to the wealthier Western world for Nigerian citizens, especially trained nurses, who, before that time, had been feeling their profession deserved better benefits.

But even with the special health worker visas they have received, a growing number want to return to their homeland for peace. How long will this constant search for fulfillment go on? A nurse, Judith Okoli, formerly based in the United States, is one of the recent returnees voluntarily embarking on a reset journey back home, and she has talked about why she made the decision.

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Everyone is asking me, ‘Why did you leave America? Are you okay? You want to suffer in Nigeria?’, says Okoli in a video commentary she posted online.

After this, the nurse, relating her thoughts in Pidgin English, goes on to emphasise that there are better gains beyond monetary accomplishments, which is the main concern the nurse had while living in the U.S.

Over there in the North American country, although the residents who have built their educational capacity do meet income opportunities, most of the content of this pool usually goes into tax payments, some Nigerians have confirmed since their relocation.

But I hope you guys know that money is not everything — at least, to some people. At least, to me, Judith Okoli adds. Based on an experience this returnee has had, someone can make ₦100 but be miserable, insulted at work, restless, disconnected from life.

In comparison, she observed that another person makes just ₦50, but they are happy, they spend quality time with their family, they sleep well, [and] they enjoy peace of mind. For me, it’s about quality of life, and for those who have asked, it is the simple reason she is back to her country of birth, Nigeria, and she isn’t the only one.

Wealth or Health?

Just like Judith Okoli, they have seen families scattered – one child is in Germany, another in Canada, another in Dubai. Six siblings haven’t seen each other in three years — all in the name of seeking a better life, but forgetting about the quality of life. These are crucial factors, but not specific to the next U.S.-based Nigerian professional, Jenny Jones already planning her return home.

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Through her TikTok, Jones said: I’m going to Nigeria because I feel I am burnt out in the U.S, and I need a break, and I am also starting my clothing line. In the U.S, healthcare costs are notoriously steep and usually available to those with insurance coverage, meaning there are those who fall into a marginalised bracket as a result.

Number one is going to be my mental health, there is no amount of supplement that you will take, there is no amount of therapy that you will do that you will not be in constant battle with your mental health because you are living in a place where you don’t feel fulfilled, says the couture enthusiast Jones about living in the U.S., even though there are others still at a U.S Embassy in Nigeria trying to get a visa.

If they get visa approvals to visit America, they expect this would improve their standard of living because of the harsh way they see their local economy biting, although there is a warning from an expert who has been on that journey, Jones.

You don’t just have that sense of fulfillment, you are lonely, you are bored, you just feel like there is so much you could be doing out there besides the same 9-5, go to work, come back, repeat, and you are two days off, you want to clean, do your laundry, you don’t want to go anywhere, you want to be in bed, and you are just too exhausted, and before you know it, it’s a Monday, and you have to go back, and it isn’t how I want to live.

Regretful Returnee

A wave of returns is just the sort of atmosphere the Nigerian government has been pushing for at a time doctors and other vital hospital staff including nurses, are abandoning their wards for the United Kingdom’s National Health Service (NHS), but will they be able to prevent one of those regretful scenarios eventually when someone returns home.

If a sexagenarian Christiana, whose name has been changed for her anonymity, knew about what was awaiting her, she probably would have culled her longing for a return permanently to Nigeria after 32 years of being away.

Captured in a Zikoko article on how things took an unexpected turn, it was revealed that Christiana first left Nigeria in 1990 after her marriage broke down, and since then, she has been planning a return.

At the time she left her country at the start of the 90s, she was 28 years old then, and it couldn’t be said that things at home were perfect, but they weren’t as bad as the 2024 experience she remembers.

I’d saved enough money from working for almost 30 years and had pension payments to ensure I didn’t have to worry about working in Nigeria. My plan was to spend my days visiting family and travelling to different states in Nigeria.

It’s not like I thought everything would go smoothly. I knew Nigeria still had electricity problems and a new battle with insecurity, and I thought I was prepared. But I wasn’t prepared for how terrible the idea of living in Nigeria actually was.

The first thing Nigeria used to welcome me was a robbery. I moved into my new house when I first arrived and even shared gifts with my new neighbours. Everyone was friendly to the smallish old woman with a British accent, and I thought I’d hit the good-neighbour jackpot.

But then, I left for a week to visit other family members in different parts of Lagos and returned home to an empty house. Thieves had entered my house through the ceiling and stolen my valuables: laptops, foreign currency, jewellery, a generator and two TVs. No one in the neighbourhood admitted to knowing when the robbery occurred.

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Ayodele Johnson

Ayodelé is a Lagos-based journalist and the Content and Editorial Coordinator at Meiza. All around the megacity, I am steering diverse lifestyle magazine audiences with ingenious hacks and insights that spur fast, informed decisions in their busy lives.