₦airaland Forum

doggedfighter:
Fashola the detective.




When he brings his children back then we can talk.

malali:
Babatunde Fashola's recent comments at Elizade University about Nigerian youth migration remind me of a wealthy man telling a hungry person, "Why are you hungry? Look at me, I stayed here and I'm well-fed!" Sir, with all due respect, you're comparing apples with oranges, and these oranges have long since gone sour.

Let's set the record straight. When Fashola asks why the Alakijas and Afobis didn't run away, he conveniently forgets that they lived in a Nigeria where one dollar exchanged for two naira – not the current rate that would make our ancestors weep. This was a Nigeria so prosperous that Ghanaians left their country to come here. Yes, you read that right, young people. There was a time when Nigeria was the "abroad" that others ran to!

The Nigeria of the 60s, 70s, and early 80s that nurtured these successful individuals was a country where a fresh graduate could buy a car with their first salary. Today, many graduates can barely afford a decent phone with their first-year earnings. How do you compare eras when the playing field has shifted so dramatically?

Migration isn't about lack of patriotism or leadership failure on the youth's part – it's about survival, a basic instinct as old as life itself. When wildebeest cross crocodile-infested rivers during the Serengeti migration, they're not being unpatriotic to their original grazing lands; they're simply following their survival instinct. From the ancient Indo-European migrations to the Bantu spread across Africa, humans have always moved towards better opportunities. It's in our DNA.

Let's be honest – we all have just one life to live. Whether you're a billionaire or a street hawker, nobody is getting more than 100 years on this earth (and that's being optimistic). So when young Nigerians choose to "japa," they're not running away from leadership; they're running towards the best possible use of their limited time on earth.

The solution isn't in guilt-tripping young people with examples of successful individuals who stayed back during Nigeria's golden era. The answer lies in addressing why people are leaving in the first place. When government policies feel like existential threats – from naira devaluation to inflation that turns three square meals into a luxury – people will naturally seek safer shores.

To our respected former minister, instead of asking why young people are leaving, perhaps the better question is: Why should they stay? When basic amenities have become luxuries, when university graduates drive Uber to survive, when the minimum wage can barely buy a bag of rice – what exactly are we asking them to stick around for?

If we truly want to stop the "japa" wave, the solution is simple but not easy: Make Nigeria livable again. No amount of motivational speaking or patriotic guilt-tripping can compete with the basic human desire for a decent life.

Fashola, as an elder statesman who has served at the highest levels of government, should be brave enough to speak these uncomfortable truths. History remembers those who spoke truth to power, not those who justified power to truth.

The next time our leaders want to address the youth exodus, let them first answer this simple question: If you were young today, with your current knowledge but without your current wealth and connections, would you choose to stay?

Until we can honestly answer "yes" to that question, the airports will remain busy, and the "japa" trend will continue. It's not rocket science – it's survival science.

malali:
Babatunde Fashola's recent comments at Elizade University about Nigerian youth migration remind me of a wealthy man telling a hungry person, "Why are you hungry? Look at me, I stayed here and I'm well-fed!" Sir, with all due respect, you're comparing apples with oranges, and these oranges have long since gone sour.

Let's set the record straight. When Fashola asks why the Alakijas and Afobis didn't run away, he conveniently forgets that they lived in a Nigeria where one dollar exchanged for two naira – not the current rate that would make our ancestors weep. This was a Nigeria so prosperous that Ghanaians left their country to come here. Yes, you read that right, young people. There was a time when Nigeria was the "abroad" that others ran to!

The Nigeria of the 60s, 70s, and early 80s that nurtured these successful individuals was a country where a fresh graduate could buy a car with their first salary. Today, many graduates can barely afford a decent phone with their first-year earnings. How do you compare eras when the playing field has shifted so dramatically?

Migration isn't about lack of patriotism or leadership failure on the youth's part – it's about survival, a basic instinct as old as life itself. When wildebeest cross crocodile-infested rivers during the Serengeti migration, they're not being unpatriotic to their original grazing lands; they're simply following their survival instinct. From the ancient Indo-European migrations to the Bantu spread across Africa, humans have always moved towards better opportunities. It's in our DNA.

Let's be honest – we all have just one life to live. Whether you're a billionaire or a street hawker, nobody is getting more than 100 years on this earth (and that's being optimistic). So when young Nigerians choose to "japa," they're not running away from leadership; they're running towards the best possible use of their limited time on earth.

The solution isn't in guilt-tripping young people with examples of successful individuals who stayed back during Nigeria's golden era. The answer lies in addressing why people are leaving in the first place. When government policies feel like existential threats – from naira devaluation to inflation that turns three square meals into a luxury – people will naturally seek safer shores.

To our respected former minister, instead of asking why young people are leaving, perhaps the better question is: Why should they stay? When basic amenities have become luxuries, when university graduates drive Uber to survive, when the minimum wage can barely buy a bag of rice – what exactly are we asking them to stick around for?

If we truly want to stop the "japa" wave, the solution is simple but not easy: Make Nigeria livable again. No amount of motivational speaking or patriotic guilt-tripping can compete with the basic human desire for a decent life.

Fashola, as an elder statesman who has served at the highest levels of government, should be brave enough to speak these uncomfortable truths. History remembers those who spoke truth to power, not those who justified power to truth.

The next time our leaders want to address the youth exodus, let them first answer this simple question: If you were young today, with your current knowledge but without your current wealth and connections, would you choose to stay?

Until we can honestly answer "yes" to that question, the airports will remain busy, and the "japa" trend will continue. It's not rocket science – it's survival science.

hedonido:
Fashola the political SAN who has never held any productive job or done any productive business in his entire adult life. Just dancing around political appointments by hanging around criminal political benefactors for the past 25 years or more. Same applies to characters like N(e)yesore Wike and so many of these arrogant nuisances.

[b]Who are you to lecture young Nigerians about 'success' when you haven't tested the waters in the real world by yourself? Everything you have ever 'achieved' was by being a bloody parasite and leeching on public funds all through your useless life. What a piece of shi[/b]t.

Tochi3:


..You are never a BATist..you can't be a BATist..never in this life or the life theirafter..cos BATists don't have the capacity to think & reason..

malali:
This is an objective tread......no malicious comments.
However Objective arguments are welcomed.

Tochi3:


..it does not change the objective fact that you can't be a BATist..no malice..Just stating facts..

Qed

malali:
I am my own person, I use my sense, not batist, not obedient, not atikulate.
All of them are scammers to varying degrees.

nothingspoil70:
All of you should hit the road. Head towards the Sahara desert, run to Somalia, Ghana, Cameroon or anywhere the wind blows you to go and start picking money on the ground there lazy Nigerian youths. Ignore Fasholas advice. In ten to twenty years time you will know how wise or stupid you have been.

I have been there

nothingspoil70:
All of you should hit the road. Head towards the Sahara desert, run to Somalia, Ghana, Cameroon or anywhere the wind blows you to go and start picking money on the ground there lazy Nigerian youths. Ignore Fasholas advice. In ten to twenty years time you will know how wise or stupid you have been.

I have been there