₦airaland Forum

2piK:
You are quite right about the difficulty in getting professional jobs in Germany, but this is not a problem with Germany; it's a problem in every advanced economy. The system in these countries is to always protect the interest of their citizens (rightfully so in my opinion), it's in Nigeria that foreigners would come into the country as expatriates and enjoy the quality of life that its citizens cannot enjoy.

Now you won't like the next few paragraphs. You are entitled. Germany never asked you to come and neither were you promised a job on completion of your studies. You made the decision to integrate yourself into it's society. Have you ever considered that a country like Germany that offers tuition free studies up to PhD level will not have shortage of skilled talents to choose from? So why should you be picked over other talents available? Because you have a masters degree? Do you know how many people have the same masters degree? Or even higher qualifications?

Advanced societies are selfish and only care about integrating the best foreign talents into their societies. So invest in yourself and make yourself stand out. Before you try to make excuses, i will briefly share my personal story and hopefully it will help reinforce believe in yourself and know that you can do it. I was your age when i came to the UK for studies, having no one except God as my friend and family. I discovered quickly that this place called the United Kingdom is a battle ground and i have my work cut-out for me if i am going to make success of it (i won't bother giving examples of what i experienced that informed this thinking as i think it's irrelevant to key points in your post).

During my studies, i did cleaning, support work, care work, kitchen staff (i did any kind of menial job to survive) and i always had a smile on my face because my life was better than when i used to hawk in Nigeria. However, I didn't get discouraged and i completed my bachelors as the best graduating student for my cohort. Based on this, I was lucky to get part scholarship from the University to do my masters which i completed in flying colours. Then the UK had a post-study visa for 2 years, got a job as a software developer with this PSW visa. When my 2 year visa was about to run out my company sponsored me and I got a work visa for 5 years.

Fast forward to the present, i have completed a bachelors, 2 masters and almost a PhD (in my 5th year of my part time PhD programme), I am now a British citizen with qualitative and extensive work experience spanning several EU countries (which incidentally includes Germany, I worked in Berlin for eight months, staying at the Westin Grand at the expense of my employers) and am now a software architect consulting for companies with the remit of providing technical guidance to their software development teams. Even during my work, I continued investing in myself, hence the other masters and my PhD (despite now having my own family).

Do you know how i got Software development experience in the UK?
Before coming here, I had 5 years working as a programmer, on arrival here I knew between classes and doing all sorts of menial jobs; i wouldn't have the time to explore volunteer opportunities. So what did i do? I was going round all local businesses (when i had free time between classes) around the university introducing myself. I explained who i was, what i was doing here and how i can help their businesses. Most of them, told me to jog on (which is British slang for f*** off) in the most polite way possible. So in my first year, no one offered me nothing. But in my second year of my studies, I got lucky there was this care agency that got tired of seeing my face, gave in and asked me to build them an application for managing their staff rota (till today i don't know if they requested this because they thought i won't be motivated to do it for free or even be able to deliver it).

I gave it my best effort, spoke to my course advisor at the university about the project. She was impressed and helped me massively. She designed sprints for me in which i completed specific features each sprint. She helped with testing the software, she wanted me to succeed, I owe her everything. The agency liked it and i got other jobs through them (this was 100% free, i never got paid any money for this project). By the time i finished my degree i had done about 5 of such free projects (now i have a portfolio of my work).

Do you know how i got my first professional job?
I will tell you. I was doing a cleaning job in my university, i had a floor i cleaned every morning before going to class, my floor had about 20 offices or maybe more...can't really remember the exact number. There was a particular office that i hated cleaning, it was always messy and took me lots of time to clean (time that i did not have). Typically i finish my shift before the lecturers come in, but on this particular day, i was cleaning this useless office and the professor came in before i had finished. I greeted him like he was my creator and apologised for not finishing his office on time (even though he was the one who came early). The bastard just nodded and didn't even say a word to me.

I didn't know that moment was when my life would change. 2 weeks later i attended a seminar in the University and this bastard professor was one of the speakers! Next morning when i got to his office to clean, he was already there. I was taken aback and before i could say anything he asked if i was at his seminar the day before, i answered in the affirmative. We got talking, he told me a bit about himself and his research interest (the focus of the seminar) and he got to know i could write software. He said they needed a software intern that could do some work for the research group. I didn't even think, I said yes and that was "my first unofficial professional job", working for his research group. Bye bye cleaning job.

When i finished my bachelors degree, the research group recommended me to one of their industry partners. My interview revolved around discussing my portfolio (the free job i did for the care agency and the systems research group). I got the job and that was my "first proper official professional job" and I gave it my all. 4 months before my post-study work visa finished the company sponsored me for my 5 year work visa, my parents were crying when i told them over the phone. I will be honest and say that i was underpaid during the period i was on the sponsorship visa, other colleagues with same level of experience or even less were earning double what i was earning...but i kept telling myself, this will not be forever. But when i got my citizenship, it's like i was launched into a new world. I left the company and got a job with a Swedish company in UK that paid me a fortune compared to my previous salary. Not just that, by virtue of being an EU citizen 27 countries became open to me where i could go work and i took advantage of these benefits.

So you see, it can be done. Was it easy? Not at all, i went through hell. But i knew what i wanted for my life, had a plan and worked extremely hard and while i might not be rich, I think i have managed to achieve some of my dreams. You are still young brother, at your age i didn't have what you had. You CAN definitely do this.

So what is my advice?
Moving countries is not always the solution at times. If you haven't sorted out your approach and self-belief, regardless of wherever you go; you'll have the same problems. Also, whatever you do, get a second nationality before you return to Nigeria as that alone will open untold doors for you in future, even if things don't go to plan in Nigeria you know you can always activate plan b (second nationality). Start networking and investing in yourself, it won't yield fruits immediately but don't be discouraged, eventually your hardwork will pay off. The truth is advanced societies don't care about the colour of your skin all they care about is that you have something that they need! Make yourself that which they need!!

And when your situation improves and feel like you have achieved some of your dreams. Start investing in Nigeria. The country doesn't need more job seekers. It needs entrepreneurs. This is my story, I hope it motivates you to be strong.

God bless u, for this good write up of urs, please I too have great decision to make now and it's all about moving to abroad, I have started d process but as a human fear of unknown do grip me, please kindly reply my PM as I have sent you a pm, let me have a talk with you, thanks

lyricalz:
don't let anyone deceive you. The best place to leave on earth is Nigeria, but only if you have money. There is wide poverty right here in Nigeria, that's the reason Nigeria seems like hell on earth. But not to those who have the money. If you have the capital, come invest it in Nigeria, the market is here.



Goodluck.

According to your post, there is wide spread of poverty in Nigeria. Don't you think it is too risky to invest in a poor market? who will patronize the business?

Why not try and get a lecturer´s job in the UK or Canada? It is important that you study a course that is maketable. Alternatively, you can try marrying an American and moving to the US. You would definitely flourish there if you work hard. You are still young. Go on facebook or visit some of our Nigerians Churches there you should be able to find somone or visit someof the American churches you should be able to find someone you like but you have to act now becuase it takes time to find someone and to try to date them. You have age on your side, so makle the move. If you tell your folks you are trying America, I am sure they would give you the space to do what you need to do. Nigerians are doing great things there and you can apply to do your Ph.D there. I wish you well. I joined this forum specifically to give you the little advice I could because I was not satisfied with the advice given thus far by others.

OGA DON'T EVEN THINK OF COMING BACK TO NIGERIA, ELSE YOU WILL BE IN A STATE OF POOR, FRUSTRATED AND DEPRESSED. TELL YOUR WIFE TO BE TO CARRY HER UK LEVEL COME MEET YOU IN GERMANY. THIS PLACE IS A ROAD TO SUICIDE AND DIE YOUNG.
I AM MANAGING 70K JOB, NOT EASY EVEN WITH THE PAY. NIGERIA IS NOT GUARANTEED TO YOUR PHD CERT.

Jokkarm2:
OGA DON'T EVEN THINK OF COMING BACK TO NIGERIA, ELSE YOU WILL BE IN A STATE OF POOR, FRUSTRATED AND DEPRESSED. TELL YOUR WIFE TO BE TO CARRY HER UK LEVEL COME MEET YOU IN GERMANY. THIS PLACE IS A ROAD TO SUICIDE AND DIE YOUNG.
I AM MANAGING 70K JOB, NOT EASY EVEN WITH THE PAY. NIGERIA IS NOT GUARANTEED TO YOUR PHD CERT.

Hahaha, your post cracked me up, Lol at Nigeria is the road to suicide and die young, chai

AngelicBeing:
Hahaha, your post cracked me up, Lol at Nigeria is the road to suicide and die young, chai

The country is sinking!

beatmonster:
The country is sinking!

But the association of patriotic citizens / zombies will disagree with you, watch out, they will soon come for your head with AK 47, ballistic missiles and nuclear weapons for saying the truth about Nigeria, instead of them to head to Abuja to go stone the wicked politicians that has crippled the country, they will rather attack people who are saying things the way they are.

Meanwhile I am sitting on Mount Everest with my plate of fresh fish pepper soup, Nkwobi and a bottle of Hennessey sipping my liquor while I watch the Patriotic citizens of Nigeria arrive to debunk your post

darkelf:
Gbam. He has given himself excuses to fail before even trying. The same Canada my pharmacist colleague emigrated to and is doing well.

pls, do u know what work ur friend is doing there, is he practicing as a pharmacist?

Op do you speak their language? If no, how do you intend to fully integrate in a non English speaking country, if you don’t speak the language of communication there?
You see people travel abroad to non English speaking countries and make no effort to learn the language, how then do you expect to integrate properly?

Take whatever decision you want, but let it be well thought out. The good thing is that you’re still young, but do not think that it will be easy anywhere or have high expectations because you have a masters...lots of people have masters degrees now, so that’s not an advantage.

My advice to anyone going (legally) to a non-English speaking country is to try and give yourself 1 year to learn their language, I have seen people do this and their lives changed for the better. There are language courses to aid integration, I know this is available at schools in that Germany because my cousin enrolled in one, and it helped to open doors for him.
His wife too enrolled when she was brought over, and she is almost done with hers.
The menial jobs you’re complaining about is what’s making you bread winner for your family, if you decide to move let it be a well thought out decision.

Jokkarm2:
OGA DON'T EVEN THINK OF COMING BACK TO NIGERIA, ELSE YOU WILL BE IN A STATE OF POOR, FRUSTRATED AND DEPRESSED. TELL YOUR WIFE TO BE TO CARRY HER UK LEVEL COME MEET YOU IN GERMANY. THIS PLACE IS A ROAD TO SUICIDE AND DIE YOUNG.
I AM MANAGING 70K JOB, NOT EASY EVEN WITH THE PAY. NIGERIA IS NOT GUARANTEED TO YOUR PHD CERT.

Well, I once had the opportunity to move to the US but I passed it off to my brother, and he is there right now with my sister. Nigeria may be terrible to most people but don't get it twisted, some people are still making exploits here.
However, it all depends on one's peculiar situation. Nevertheless, 70K salary is poor considering inflationary pressure on the naira. I earn on average, 5x that amount as a single guy living in a not so expensive city yet I struggle to keep expenses on the low in order to make savings. Anyone earning 70K while living in cities like Lagos, Abuja or P.Harcourt would find it difficult getting by and it would be worse if they have families that depend on them.

To the Op, you can only return as an enterprenuer with a good startup idea and funds to back it up, but DON'T EVER RETURN TO NIGERIA TO LOOK FOR JOB BECAUSE THEY ARE VIRTUALLY NON EXISTENT!!

You are like john snow. YOU KNOW NOTHING

justwise:
You are too shortsighted and i'm not sure you have had a real life experience. you said that because you know how his future will turn out?

tundeloveday:
You are like john snow. YOU KNOW NOTHING

I take that as a compliment

beatmonster:
According to your post, there is wide spread of poverty in Nigeria. Don't you think it is too risky to invest in a poor market? who will patronize the business?

The ever growing population created the market. If you do your research well, you can tap on that.

2piK:
You are quite right about the difficulty in getting professional jobs in Germany, but this is not a problem with Germany; it's a problem in every advanced economy. The system in these countries is to always protect the interest of their citizens (rightfully so in my opinion), it's in Nigeria that foreigners would come into the country as expatriates and enjoy the quality of life that its citizens cannot enjoy.

Now you won't like the next few paragraphs. You are entitled. Germany never asked you to come and neither were you promised a job on completion of your studies. You made the decision to integrate yourself into it's society. Have you ever considered that a country like Germany that offers tuition free studies up to PhD level will not have shortage of skilled talents to choose from? So why should you be picked over other talents available? Because you have a masters degree? Do you know how many people have the same masters degree? Or even higher qualifications?

Advanced societies are selfish and only care about integrating the best foreign talents into their societies. So invest in yourself and make yourself stand out. Before you try to make excuses, i will briefly share my personal story and hopefully it will help reinforce believe in yourself and know that you can do it. I was your age when i came to the UK for studies, having no one except God as my friend and family. I discovered quickly that this place called the United Kingdom is a battle ground and i have my work cut-out for me if i am going to make success of it (i won't bother giving examples of what i experienced that informed this thinking as i think it's irrelevant to key points in your post).

During my studies, i did cleaning, support work, care work, kitchen staff (i did any kind of menial job to survive) and i always had a smile on my face because my life was better than when i used to hawk in Nigeria. However, I didn't get discouraged and i completed my bachelors as the best graduating student for my cohort. Based on this, I was lucky to get part scholarship from the University to do my masters which i completed in flying colours. Then the UK had a post-study visa for 2 years, got a job as a software developer with this PSW visa. When my 2 year visa was about to run out my company sponsored me and I got a work visa for 5 years.

Fast forward to the present, i have completed a bachelors, 2 masters and almost a PhD (in my 5th year of my part time PhD programme), I am now a British citizen with qualitative and extensive work experience spanning several EU countries (which incidentally includes Germany, I worked in Berlin for eight months, staying at the Westin Grand at the expense of my employers) and am now a software architect consulting for companies with the remit of providing technical guidance to their software development teams. Even during my work, I continued investing in myself, hence the other masters and my PhD (despite now having my own family).

Do you know how i got Software development experience in the UK?
Before coming here, I had 5 years working as a programmer, on arrival here I knew between classes and doing all sorts of menial jobs; i wouldn't have the time to explore volunteer opportunities. So what did i do? I was going round all local businesses (when i had free time between classes) around the university introducing myself. I explained who i was, what i was doing here and how i can help their businesses. Most of them, told me to jog on (which is British slang for f*** off) in the most polite way possible. So in my first year, no one offered me nothing. But in my second year of my studies, I got lucky there was this care agency that got tired of seeing my face, gave in and asked me to build them an application for managing their staff rota (till today i don't know if they requested this because they thought i won't be motivated to do it for free or even be able to deliver it).

I gave it my best effort, spoke to my course advisor at the university about the project. She was impressed and helped me massively. She designed sprints for me in which i completed specific features each sprint. She helped with testing the software, she wanted me to succeed, I owe her everything. The agency liked it and i got other jobs through them (this was 100% free, i never got paid any money for this project). By the time i finished my degree i had done about 5 of such free projects (now i have a portfolio of my work).

Do you know how i got my first professional job?
I will tell you. I was doing a cleaning job in my university, i had a floor i cleaned every morning before going to class, my floor had about 20 offices or maybe more...can't really remember the exact number. There was a particular office that i hated cleaning, it was always messy and took me lots of time to clean (time that i did not have). Typically i finish my shift before the lecturers come in, but on this particular day, i was cleaning this useless office and the professor came in before i had finished. I greeted him like he was my creator and apologised for not finishing his office on time (even though he was the one who came early). The bastard just nodded and didn't even say a word to me.

I didn't know that moment was when my life would change. 2 weeks later i attended a seminar in the University and this bastard professor was one of the speakers! Next morning when i got to his office to clean, he was already there. I was taken aback and before i could say anything he asked if i was at his seminar the day before, i answered in the affirmative. We got talking, he told me a bit about himself and his research interest (the focus of the seminar) and he got to know i could write software. He said they needed a software intern that could do some work for the research group. I didn't even think, I said yes and that was "my first unofficial professional job", working for his research group. Bye bye cleaning job.

When i finished my bachelors degree, the research group recommended me to one of their industry partners. My interview revolved around discussing my portfolio (the free job i did for the care agency and the systems research group). I got the job and that was my "first proper official professional job" and I gave it my all. 4 months before my post-study work visa finished the company sponsored me for my 5 year work visa, my parents were crying when i told them over the phone. I will be honest and say that i was underpaid during the period i was on the sponsorship visa, other colleagues with same level of experience or even less were earning double what i was earning...but i kept telling myself, this will not be forever. But when i got my citizenship, it's like i was launched into a new world. I left the company and got a job with a Swedish company in UK that paid me a fortune compared to my previous salary. Not just that, by virtue of being an EU citizen 27 countries became open to me where i could go work and i took advantage of these benefits.

So you see, it can be done. Was it easy? Not at all, i went through hell. But i knew what i wanted for my life, had a plan and worked extremely hard and while i might not be rich, I think i have managed to achieve some of my dreams. You are still young brother, at your age i didn't have what you had. You CAN definitely do this.

So what is my advice?
Moving countries is not always the solution at times. If you haven't sorted out your approach and self-belief, regardless of wherever you go; you'll have the same problems. Also, whatever you do, get a second nationality before you return to Nigeria as that alone will open untold doors for you in future, even if things don't go to plan in Nigeria you know you can always activate plan b (second nationality). Start networking and investing in yourself, it won't yield fruits immediately but don't be discouraged, eventually your hardwork will pay off. The truth is advanced societies don't care about the colour of your skin all they care about is that you have something that they need! Make yourself that which they need!!

And when your situation improves and feel like you have achieved some of your dreams. Start investing in Nigeria. The country doesn't need more job seekers. It needs entrepreneurs. This is my story, I hope it motivates you to be strong.

I wish I could like and share this more than once.

Copied:


Money is NOT on the top ten on the list of reasons why I left Nigeria.
I'm 100% sure that if I were in Nigeria since 2012, I would have made more than ten times the money I have made since 2012.

Let me tell you some of the reasons I left Nigeria.

1. Health: each time I want to discuss this, I get extremely emotional. My father was diabetic for many years. Over the past three years till my father died in February, my family was spending an average of HALF A MILLION NAIRA MONTHLY on my father's hospital visits and medications, this doesn’t include the over N5million we spent on his eyes surgeries to save his sight. My father's health condition is what they call "Big man sickness". Because my Dad lived with the condition post diagnosis for about two decades. It was VERY EXPENSIVE to manage his health. How many Nigerian households earn upto N500k monthly talk less of spending that on the health of just one family member?

If my Dad were British or Canadian who had worked in civil service (Like he did in Nigeria) for 35-years and retired, his healthcare would have been ABSOLUTELY FREE and sorted out by the government. He wouldn't have had to spend his gratuity on managing his health and staying alive.

Listen! My siblings and their families are British. No matter what sickness they get afflicted with (I hope NOT), they will NEVER have to resort to begging the public to raise funds for them. They are citizens and tax payers of a country that sees healthcare as a fundamental right and provides it free of charge for the citizens and some residents.

Here in Canada, my health insurance covers me upto a maximum of FIVE MILLION DOLLARS a year. By next year, I'd be fully covered by the provincial free healthcare, and will not need private health insurance anymore.

But YOU as a Nigerian in Nigeria is just one sickness away from becoming a social media beggar and losing your dignity trying to beg for money to save your life because your government cannot even do as little as subsidize healthcare.
Any small growth in your legs, you start a fundraising to raise millions so that you can run to India to save your life. Not only are you short of money, you don't even trust the facilities and your healthcare professionals to be able to save you in your country even though you are able to successfully beg for the full amount you want. You have to go to India.

While going home for my Dad's burial, my siblings and I had to go home with our own medications because a lot of the ones you have in Nigeria are adulterated and almost as good as chalks. I had to take my own paracetamol and tylenol to Nigeria (for menstrual cramps) because the Nigerian made paracetamol doesn't work for me.

One of the reasons my Dad's medication was that expensive was because we had to order them from the UK. Not because they were not available in Nigeria, but because the ones in Nigeria were not working.

If I start feeling too sick in Canada or the UK, I can dial 911 or 999, and qualified healthcare professionals will come and attend to me. You don't have Emergency healthcare dials and services in Nigeria. Call an ambulance and they might charge you N100k or more to come. That's if you are lucky enough to reach them.

2. Security: coming home this period refreshed my memory on the level of insecurity in Nigeria. In my house in Canada, I SELDOM lock my front door or room door at night before I go to bed. I leave my front door unlocked and leave my house and come back to meet everything still in tact. Sometimes, I lock, but that might be just because I don't want someone or a friend bumping into me, or maybe because I'm trying to avoid seeing someone. It's seldom because I think someone will come and rob, rape and maybe kill me.
But we have a huge dog in my family home in Nigeria. Every night when the dog starts barking, we wake up and become scared because there might be a robbery going on somewhere close, or some people of the underworld are roaming the streets. This is despite all the multiple iron doors we've locked and locked.
I couldn't go to all the places I wanted to go to because my family members were scared for my life.
The life of an average Nigerian seems worth less than the life of a fatted Nigerian cow.

If I'm in danger in Canada, I've got 911 and the police would come and do their best to rescue me. In Nigeria, no emergency police dial. If you even manage to get to the police, they will ask you to bribe them and fuel their cars before they will consider whether or not they can help you.

3. Education: where do we start from on this one? Am I supposed to write another epistle trying to tell you how decayed the educational system in Nigeria is? Are we going to start from malpractice or the lack of infrastructure or some of the English teachers that can't make a single grammatically correct sentence in English? Please, where do we start from? You lots went through the system. So, you should know this more than I do.

4. Freedom: I can exercise my fundamental rights without being harrassed. No police officer will come into a club and arrest all the females there and ask them to choose between monetary bribe and rape as a bail price.

5. Having 24-hours power supply and a few other basics are "luxuries" enjoyed only by the very few rich Nigerians. Maybe just the top 5%.

6. Standard of living: working fulltime while earning a minimum wage in the UK and Canada will enable you to be able to COMFORTABLY afford the basics... maybe not luxury. Basics like a decent accommodation, good food, good clothes, and to be able to run a small car.
In Nigeria, they recently increased your minimum wage from N18k to N30k; which is still barely enough to make your hair and buy underwear and sanitary pads for the month.
I heard (didn't confirm) that Nigeria was declared the poverty headquarters of the world.

You see, I could go on and on, but let me stop here.
It's ok if you want to stay in Nigeria and remain there, but you can do that without trying too hard to come up with some daft arguments. And if you are a Nigerian earning less than N2million per month, I need you to remind yourself that you are just a sickness away from becoming a beggar! Let that sink in!

The country is currently a BIG MESS!
It's very ok for people to want better for themselves and seek greener pastures elsewhere. And if you don't want to leave, STAY! Let those who want to leave leave.

You people keep asking "If we all run away who will repair the country?" YOU of course. You who is still there will help us repair it. Please stay there and help us fix it. We are begging you.

The irony of this whole thing is that most of these so-called patriotic Nigerians had all their children in the US. I once met a woman on Facebook arguing against people leaving Nigeria to seek citizenship elsewhere. When I engaged her in an argument and dug deeper, I realized that she had ALL her four children in the US. They are US citizens. She paid millions to make sure her children are US citizens, but she was on Facebook advocating for other Nigerians not to go abroad for citizenship. You don't need to know how I finished with her that day.

Another set of people are those who either can’t afford the immigration process, or those who have applied to leave the country several times but have been denied Visas, and those who do not meet the requirements for immigration as skilled workers. They become patriotic after they have visited almost all the embassies in Lagos and Abuja and seen that there is no hope, and that the destinies of them and their children and children's children are ingrained in Nigeria. More like "since I can't have it, let me badmouth it." My heartfelt sympathies are with these ones.

You Nigerian citizens in Nigeria have only Nigeria as an option. Nigerian citizens with other citizenships have Nigeria and other options. I can get up at almost any time and go to Nigeria or Canada. But you can't just wake up and come to Canada. You enjoy the benefits of being Nigerians. Nigerians with dual citizenship enjoy the benefits of being Nigerians and being citizens of other countries. I know this is quite petty, but allow me to just rub this in.

Stay in Nigeria if you want. But biko, spare us those lame arguments.

*-*

When I read all those "Will you travel abroad if you get N2million as salary", I laugh. Who ever told you people that it's all about money?

The fact that most thieves and some of the politicians stealing from you and most Nigerian Billionaires and richest send their children abroad should be enough to tell you that people don't just travel abroad for money. It's way more than that. There's more to life than just money.

My parents sent us their children out of Nigeria because of the poor education, insecurity and poor healthcare in Nigeria. It was NOT so that we will go and make money for them.

- Nkechi Bianze

Demainman1:
Copied:


Money is NOT on the top ten on the list of reasons why I left Nigeria.
I'm 100% sure that if I were in Nigeria since 2012, I would have made more than ten times the money I have made since 2012.

Let me tell you some of the reasons I left Nigeria.

1. Health: each time I want to discuss this, I get extremely emotional. My father was diabetic for many years. Over the past three years till my father died in February, my family was spending an average of HALF A MILLION NAIRA MONTHLY on my father's hospital visits and medications, this doesn’t include the over N5million we spent on his eyes surgeries to save his sight. My father's health condition is what they call "Big man sickness". Because my Dad lived with the condition post diagnosis for about two decades. It was VERY EXPENSIVE to manage his health. How many Nigerian households earn upto N500k monthly talk less of spending that on the health of just one family member?

If my Dad were British or Canadian who had worked in civil service (Like he did in Nigeria) for 35-years and retired, his healthcare would have been ABSOLUTELY FREE and sorted out by the government. He wouldn't have had to spend his gratuity on managing his health and staying alive.

Listen! My siblings and their families are British. No matter what sickness they get afflicted with (I hope NOT), they will NEVER have to resort to begging the public to raise funds for them. They are citizens and tax payers of a country that sees healthcare as a fundamental right and provides it free of charge for the citizens and some residents.

Here in Canada, my health insurance covers me upto a maximum of FIVE MILLION DOLLARS a year. By next year, I'd be fully covered by the provincial free healthcare, and will not need private health insurance anymore.

But YOU as a Nigerian in Nigeria is just one sickness away from becoming a social media beggar and losing your dignity trying to beg for money to save your life because your government cannot even do as little as subsidize healthcare.
Any small growth in your legs, you start a fundraising to raise millions so that you can run to India to save your life. Not only are you short of money, you don't even trust the facilities and your healthcare professionals to be able to save you in your country even though you are able to successfully beg for the full amount you want. You have to go to India.

While going home for my Dad's burial, my siblings and I had to go home with our own medications because a lot of the ones you have in Nigeria are adulterated and almost as good as chalks. I had to take my own paracetamol and tylenol to Nigeria (for menstrual cramps) because the Nigerian made paracetamol doesn't work for me.

One of the reasons my Dad's medication was that expensive was because we had to order them from the UK. Not because they were not available in Nigeria, but because the ones in Nigeria were not working.

If I start feeling too sick in Canada or the UK, I can dial 911 or 999, and qualified healthcare professionals will come and attend to me. You don't have Emergency healthcare dials and services in Nigeria. Call an ambulance and they might charge you N100k or more to come. That's if you are lucky enough to reach them.

2. Security: coming home this period refreshed my memory on the level of insecurity in Nigeria. In my house in Canada, I SELDOM lock my front door or room door at night before I go to bed. I leave my front door unlocked and leave my house and come back to meet everything still in tact. Sometimes, I lock, but that might be just because I don't want someone or a friend bumping into me, or maybe because I'm trying to avoid seeing someone. It's seldom because I think someone will come and rob, rape and maybe kill me.
But we have a huge dog in my family home in Nigeria. Every night when the dog starts barking, we wake up and become scared because there might be a robbery going on somewhere close, or some people of the underworld are roaming the streets. This is despite all the multiple iron doors we've locked and locked.
I couldn't go to all the places I wanted to go to because my family members were scared for my life.
The life of an average Nigerian seems worth less than the life of a fatted Nigerian cow.

If I'm in danger in Canada, I've got 911 and the police would come and do their best to rescue me. In Nigeria, no emergency police dial. If you even manage to get to the police, they will ask you to bribe them and fuel their cars before they will consider whether or not they can help you.

3. Education: where do we start from on this one? Am I supposed to write another epistle trying to tell you how decayed the educational system in Nigeria is? Are we going to start from malpractice or the lack of infrastructure or some of the English teachers that can't make a single grammatically correct sentence in English? Please, where do we start from? You lots went through the system. So, you should know this more than I do.

4. Freedom: I can exercise my fundamental rights without being harrassed. No police officer will come into a club and arrest all the females there and ask them to choose between monetary bribe and rape as a bail price.

5. Having 24-hours power supply and a few other basics are "luxuries" enjoyed only by the very few rich Nigerians. Maybe just the top 5%.

6. Standard of living: working fulltime while earning a minimum wage in the UK and Canada will enable you to be able to COMFORTABLY afford the basics... maybe not luxury. Basics like a decent accommodation, good food, good clothes, and to be able to run a small car.
In Nigeria, they recently increased your minimum wage from N18k to N30k; which is still barely enough to make your hair and buy underwear and sanitary pads for the month.
I heard (didn't confirm) that Nigeria was declared the poverty headquarters of the world.

You see, I could go on and on, but let me stop here.
It's ok if you want to stay in Nigeria and remain there, but you can do that without trying too hard to come up with some daft arguments. And if you are a Nigerian earning less than N2million per month, I need you to remind yourself that you are just a sickness away from becoming a beggar! Let that sink in!

The country is currently a BIG MESS!
It's very ok for people to want better for themselves and seek greener pastures elsewhere. And if you don't want to leave, STAY! Let those who want to leave leave.

You people keep asking "If we all run away who will repair the country?" YOU of course. You who is still there will help us repair it. Please stay there and help us fix it. We are begging you.

The irony of this whole thing is that most of these so-called patriotic Nigerians had all their children in the US. I once met a woman on Facebook arguing against people leaving Nigeria to seek citizenship elsewhere. When I engaged her in an argument and dug deeper, I realized that she had ALL her four children in the US. They are US citizens. She paid millions to make sure her children are US citizens, but she was on Facebook advocating for other Nigerians not to go abroad for citizenship. You don't need to know how I finished with her that day.

Another set of people are those who either can’t afford the immigration process, or those who have applied to leave the country several times but have been denied Visas, and those who do not meet the requirements for immigration as skilled workers. They become patriotic after they have visited almost all the embassies in Lagos and Abuja and seen that there is no hope, and that the destinies of them and their children and children's children are ingrained in Nigeria. More like "since I can't have it, let me badmouth it." My heartfelt sympathies are with these ones.

You Nigerian citizens in Nigeria have only Nigeria as an option. Nigerian citizens with other citizenships have Nigeria and other options. I can get up at almost any time and go to Nigeria or Canada. But you can't just wake up and come to Canada. You enjoy the benefits of being Nigerians. Nigerians with dual citizenship enjoy the benefits of being Nigerians and being citizens of other countries. I know this is quite petty, but allow me to just rub this in.

Stay in Nigeria if you want. But biko, spare us those lame arguments.

*-*

When I read all those "Will you travel abroad if you get N2million as salary", I laugh. Who ever told you people that it's all about money?

The fact that most thieves and some of the politicians stealing from you and most Nigerian Billionaires and richest send their children abroad should be enough to tell you that people don't just travel abroad for money. It's way more than that. There's more to life than just money.

My parents sent us their children out of Nigeria because of the poor education, insecurity and poor healthcare in Nigeria. It was NOT so that we will go and make money for them.

- Nkechi Bianze

100 trillion likes, that has always been my position, succinctly put and spot on, even Buhari their so called messiah and his family goes to UK for medical attention, UK government is the one currently keeping Buhari alive via her topnotch medical facilities, Aso Rock clinic, national hospital Abuja and several clinics in Nigeria are slaughter slab, Buhari doesn't even trust them, he rather prefers to be treated in England, and the same applies to several politicians in Nigeria, patriotism my foot, nonsense

bencliff2017:
Are you saying the children raised in Nigeria don’t have a good future...small pikin mentality

to be frank with you


They don't (most of them)


And I am not a "small pikin"

if it's very difficult for young people to get jobs TODAY and many have slipped iny9 despondency

how do you think it will be for the small ones who are too too many coming (the foolish country breed like rats btw, when they have no plan for the unfortunate kids)

quite frankly
the future id quite bleak


except a wonderful miracle happens

Ugosample:
to be frank with you


They don't (most of them)


And I am not a "small pikin"

if it's very difficult for young people to get jobs TODAY and many have slipped iny9 despondency

how do you think it will be for the small ones who are too too many coming (the foolish country breed like rats btw, when they have no plan for the unfortunate kids)

quite frankly
the future id quite bleak


except a wonderful miracle happens

Lol at your last sentence, miracles doesn't develop nor play any role in turning the affairs of any nation, Malaysia, the GCC countries, Singapore, Western Europe, Oceania, North America didn’t develop via miracles but rather they all had different visions / road map from where they were in the past to where they currently are at the moment, once you have visionary leaders at the helm of affairs in any nation, that nation will develop very fast, prayers, fasting, Hajj, tithes, offerings, zakat, sleeping in Jerusalem, Vatican or Mecca doesn't develop any nation, God cannot be mocked with frivolous religious pieties void of critical thinking.

China is almost classified as an Atheist Nation but almost all the electronics, plastic chairs, microphones used in different religious places in Nigeria is from China a supposedly Atheist Nation, miracles will never develop any nation, as long as Nigeria is waiting for miracles to turn things around positively in Nigeria, dem go wait, pray and fast till the end of the world

Profkenny1:
It's no more advisable to be married in the West. It's become a raw deal for men here in the West. Women here see men as disposable utilities, and with the gynolunatic laws they can ruin your life! Sincerely the juice ain't worth the squeeze anymore.

If you want to marry, then marry and leave your wife in a sane country where men and women are treated equally and where the laws are not biased against men. You can marry a girl in Naija and leave her there. Have kids with her (maximum of 2 children and make sure you do DNA tests IMMEDIATELY they are birthed because you don't wanna raise another man's sperm!), build her and your children a house making sure your sisters are close to them and your wife and kids are under their radar.

The rate at which men commit suicide after getting divorce-raped in western family courts is alarming! You don't wanna be a married man here!

did you call NiggerArea a same country that treat men and women equally?

willy2000:
.
Isn't being a baby daddy better than marrying a woman and leaving her in another part of the planet? Now, you want to have your wife and kids under the radar while you are not? Why starve a woman from love and affection if what you need are children?

that is the MENTALITY of a typical nigga

igbo men especially are good at such fvckery

marry an unfortunate woman and keep her in NiggerArea while konji dey kill am for Nigeria, saddled with kids while you are abroad

we see this things all the time

And it does not end well

Beautyaddy:
Very contradicting and wrong statement.
Men and women in Nigeria are not treated equally.

don't mind the joker

CanadianNaija:
Op do you speak their language? If no, how do you intend to fully integrate in a non English speaking country, if you don’t speak the language of communication there?
You see people travel abroad to non English speaking countries and make no effort to learn the language, how then do you expect to integrate properly?

Take whatever decision you want, but let it be well thought out. The good thing is that you’re still young, but do not think that it will be easy anywhere or have high expectations because you have a masters...lots of people have masters degrees now, so that’s not an advantage.

My advice to anyone going (legally) to a non-English speaking country is to try and give yourself 1 year to learn their language, I have seen people do this and their lives changed for the better. There are language courses to aid integration, I know this is available at schools in that Germany because my cousin enrolled in one, and it helped to open doors for him.
His wife too enrolled when she was brought over, and she is almost done with hers.
The menial jobs you’re complaining about is what’s making you bread winner for your family, if you decide to move let it be a well thought out decision.

exactly

you have to learn the language of the country WELL to fit in better

Demainman1:
Copied:


Money is NOT on the top ten on the list of reasons why I left Nigeria.
I'm 100% sure that if I were in Nigeria since 2012, I would have made more than ten times the money I have made since 2012.

Let me tell you some of the reasons I left Nigeria.

1. Health: each time I want to discuss this, I get extremely emotional. My father was diabetic for many years. Over the past three years till my father died in February, my family was spending an average of HALF A MILLION NAIRA MONTHLY on my father's hospital visits and medications, this doesn’t include the over N5million we spent on his eyes surgeries to save his sight. My father's health condition is what they call "Big man sickness". Because my Dad lived with the condition post diagnosis for about two decades. It was VERY EXPENSIVE to manage his health. How many Nigerian households earn upto N500k monthly talk less of spending that on the health of just one family member?

If my Dad were British or Canadian who had worked in civil service (Like he did in Nigeria) for 35-years and retired, his healthcare would have been ABSOLUTELY FREE and sorted out by the government. He wouldn't have had to spend his gratuity on managing his health and staying alive.

Listen! My siblings and their families are British. No matter what sickness they get afflicted with (I hope NOT), they will NEVER have to resort to begging the public to raise funds for them. They are citizens and tax payers of a country that sees healthcare as a fundamental right and provides it free of charge for the citizens and some residents.

Here in Canada, my health insurance covers me upto a maximum of FIVE MILLION DOLLARS a year. By next year, I'd be fully covered by the provincial free healthcare, and will not need private health insurance anymore.

But YOU as a Nigerian in Nigeria is just one sickness away from becoming a social media beggar and losing your dignity trying to beg for money to save your life because your government cannot even do as little as subsidize healthcare.
Any small growth in your legs, you start a fundraising to raise millions so that you can run to India to save your life. Not only are you short of money, you don't even trust the facilities and your healthcare professionals to be able to save you in your country even though you are able to successfully beg for the full amount you want. You have to go to India.

While going home for my Dad's burial, my siblings and I had to go home with our own medications because a lot of the ones you have in Nigeria are adulterated and almost as good as chalks. I had to take my own paracetamol and tylenol to Nigeria (for menstrual cramps) because the Nigerian made paracetamol doesn't work for me.

One of the reasons my Dad's medication was that expensive was because we had to order them from the UK. Not because they were not available in Nigeria, but because the ones in Nigeria were not working.

If I start feeling too sick in Canada or the UK, I can dial 911 or 999, and qualified healthcare professionals will come and attend to me. You don't have Emergency healthcare dials and services in Nigeria. Call an ambulance and they might charge you N100k or more to come. That's if you are lucky enough to reach them.

2. Security: coming home this period refreshed my memory on the level of insecurity in Nigeria. In my house in Canada, I SELDOM lock my front door or room door at night before I go to bed. I leave my front door unlocked and leave my house and come back to meet everything still in tact. Sometimes, I lock, but that might be just because I don't want someone or a friend bumping into me, or maybe because I'm trying to avoid seeing someone. It's seldom because I think someone will come and rob, rape and maybe kill me.
But we have a huge dog in my family home in Nigeria. Every night when the dog starts barking, we wake up and become scared because there might be a robbery going on somewhere close, or some people of the underworld are roaming the streets. This is despite all the multiple iron doors we've locked and locked.
I couldn't go to all the places I wanted to go to because my family members were scared for my life.
The life of an average Nigerian seems worth less than the life of a fatted Nigerian cow.

If I'm in danger in Canada, I've got 911 and the police would come and do their best to rescue me. In Nigeria, no emergency police dial. If you even manage to get to the police, they will ask you to bribe them and fuel their cars before they will consider whether or not they can help you.

3. Education: where do we start from on this one? Am I supposed to write another epistle trying to tell you how decayed the educational system in Nigeria is? Are we going to start from malpractice or the lack of infrastructure or some of the English teachers that can't make a single grammatically correct sentence in English? Please, where do we start from? You lots went through the system. So, you should know this more than I do.

4. Freedom: I can exercise my fundamental rights without being harrassed. No police officer will come into a club and arrest all the females there and ask them to choose between monetary bribe and rape as a bail price.

5. Having 24-hours power supply and a few other basics are "luxuries" enjoyed only by the very few rich Nigerians. Maybe just the top 5%.

6. Standard of living: working fulltime while earning a minimum wage in the UK and Canada will enable you to be able to COMFORTABLY afford the basics... maybe not luxury. Basics like a decent accommodation, good food, good clothes, and to be able to run a small car.
In Nigeria, they recently increased your minimum wage from N18k to N30k; which is still barely enough to make your hair and buy underwear and sanitary pads for the month.
I heard (didn't confirm) that Nigeria was declared the poverty headquarters of the world.

You see, I could go on and on, but let me stop here.
It's ok if you want to stay in Nigeria and remain there, but you can do that without trying too hard to come up with some daft arguments. And if you are a Nigerian earning less than N2million per month, I need you to remind yourself that you are just a sickness away from becoming a beggar! Let that sink in!

The country is currently a BIG MESS!
It's very ok for people to want better for themselves and seek greener pastures elsewhere. And if you don't want to leave, STAY! Let those who want to leave leave.

You people keep asking "If we all run away who will repair the country?" YOU of course. You who is still there will help us repair it. Please stay there and help us fix it. We are begging you.

The irony of this whole thing is that most of these so-called patriotic Nigerians had all their children in the US. I once met a woman on Facebook arguing against people leaving Nigeria to seek citizenship elsewhere. When I engaged her in an argument and dug deeper, I realized that she had ALL her four children in the US. They are US citizens. She paid millions to make sure her children are US citizens, but she was on Facebook advocating for other Nigerians not to go abroad for citizenship. You don't need to know how I finished with her that day.

Another set of people are those who either can’t afford the immigration process, or those who have applied to leave the country several times but have been denied Visas, and those who do not meet the requirements for immigration as skilled workers. They become patriotic after they have visited almost all the embassies in Lagos and Abuja and seen that there is no hope, and that the destinies of them and their children and children's children are ingrained in Nigeria. More like "since I can't have it, let me badmouth it." My heartfelt sympathies are with these ones.

You Nigerian citizens in Nigeria have only Nigeria as an option. Nigerian citizens with other citizenships have Nigeria and other options. I can get up at almost any time and go to Nigeria or Canada. But you can't just wake up and come to Canada. You enjoy the benefits of being Nigerians. Nigerians with dual citizenship enjoy the benefits of being Nigerians and being citizens of other countries. I know this is quite petty, but allow me to just rub this in.

Stay in Nigeria if you want. But biko, spare us those lame arguments.

*-*

When I read all those "Will you travel abroad if you get N2million as salary", I laugh. Who ever told you people that it's all about money?

The fact that most thieves and some of the politicians stealing from you and most Nigerian Billionaires and richest send their children abroad should be enough to tell you that people don't just travel abroad for money. It's way more than that. There's more to life than just money.

My parents sent us their children out of Nigeria because of the poor education, insecurity and poor healthcare in Nigeria. It was NOT so that we will go and make money for them.

- Nkechi Bianze

leaving the destroyed country is a good decision

it's not about money

DanXplore:
I have lived in Manchester for over a year and I understand you perfectly. Alot has been said but it all boils down to what your heart wants. I came back to Nigeria and quite frankly, things have been fine so far. Nevertheless, I would advice that shoud you decide to come to Nigeria, have a solid capital base. You may then purchase profit making instruments from the money market (e.g treasury bills) that will be paying you without having to sweat. When you are certain of a fixed income base to support the inevitable domestic overheads, you will free up your mind to strategically plot your goals on this rugged terrain called Nigeria. There are opportunities in Nigeria but you will need to deligently search for it. It will be very frustrating if you do not have money to keep body and soul one.

I have a cousin studying/that studied computer science in Germany and you sound just like him. If you are from Jos, then you are likely the one. PM me let's discuss.

You probably just found your brother

Chidimizzle:
Amazingly I'm exactly where you are. Came over to Ireland to do my Masters and I'm presently wondering what my next step will be. It's not moving back home though, lol! I'll look for a job around the world and wherever it springs up I go. This is against the advice of family and friends who think I should remain in Erurope even if it means washing plates full time. The average Nigerian believes life should follow that pattern of making money and going on to marry and breed children. Well, some of us have other plans.

You'll first have to understand that most people won't get what's happening as the present crop of Nigerian youths are driven by material gains and if we're being honest, even you the OP sound that way. My grouse with living abroad is I will probably never get the kind of job I want which isn't because I want the money or status that comes with it but because it lacks the satisfaction i crave. I want a job where i can see the (positive) impact I make in people's lives.

A lot of folks shouting 'be happy with what you have' and 'Nigerians abroad being ungrateful' and all them similar yen yen yen forget that happiness is relative. For some making money brings happiness regardless of how it's made, for others wearing suit and marking register in a fortune 500 company where bills take up the earnings is happiness...happiness is relative and everyone needs to find their happy.

The factors we contend with are numerous but it's a structure already in place and we can only double efforts to break in or sit back and bemoan our fate as blacks equally from a developing nation notorious for everything negative...i say you chose the former.

The global north is built for its citizens and breaking in as a citizen of the global south takes triple the effort. I don't blame them, it'll be foolhardy to consider the black man with a history of unprogressiveness versus the white man who has proven his worth over and over again. Even the Paki and Indians are making better progress in measuring up compared to the black continent. I've studied with them and tbh, they are smart. If nothing their educational background is as good as what's obtainable here. I digress.

OP, it is not a bad thing to be ambitious and want more from life. Like what's the beauty in living if you're not happy atleast right? Again, like myself I don't think I'll be truly happy at a job i detest. But those jobs we seek are not for our picking in Nigeria either. Before you can get your dream job in Nigeria, if it's in govt you have to pay, pray and likely do dirty things to get that job. If it's in the private sector, you still have those from the global north to contend with. Because truth be told, we still vie for these positions back home with foreigners who have the experience and qualifications compared to us. We struggle here with them, we go back home and still struggle with them cos international companies, private companies etc. will take a foreigner compared to you...even in your own land.

Our system is flawed, the global north has made things easier for their folks to integrate easily with factors such as ability to travel freely/permits, age, experience, qualification etc. So you're still faced with this competition back home not only by foreigners but by Nigerians with that added advantage (E.g. yankee/jand born and raised).

As a lot of people (Me inclusive) have stressed it out, going back home should be your last option due to numerous factors such as failing economy, insecurity, erratic power supply etc, it'll be best you take these into consideration as you decide. You're unhappy now but don't make decisions yet, weigh the pros and cons carefully.

For Nigeria it's not only about making money, would you be able to survive in an environment that frustrates the positivity in people? There's a reason people are fleeing and people have been honest to say why. Don't rush back home. Another factor to think about is if you want to have children. It'll be a disservice to bring a child into the Nigerian environment seeing as you have the opportunity to endure, be patient and give the child an enabling environment like that found in the global north.

I need not tell you not to marry that girl as I'm sure you know what to do about that. A friend of mine presently rounding up his Masters in the UK is going 'mental' thinking of his next step. He's heard stories of all them arranged marriages and knows to steer clear. The level of desperation in the UK has straight men claiming to be gay to settle in.

Bottomline: look for jobs far and wide. Nigeria should come in only under these circumstances: you get an appointment of that well paying job or you have saved so much money that even if your start-up fails you can still be on your feet. Either way just know as one who has lived in a developed region you'll likely get frustrated at the slow pace of common sense in your homeland.

Very insightful. Starred

darkelf:
This guy will regret stepping foot in this country called Nigeria

E be like say you no dey hear word ba?

Wait ooo...do you think jobs/clients would jump at you because you schooled in Germany?

Don't you listen to or read the news?

Do you know how high the unemployment rate is currently?

Do you not know that power generation has dropped in the last 4 yrs?

I stay in Abuja (Airport road) and I have not seen light in 2 days now. I don't stay in a rural area ooo. Its very urban.

Do you know that once some people get wind of your arrival in Naija, you could be kidnapped even in the hotel? Nowhere is safe and no one can be completely trusted.

Why not try other countries. Even if you get the opportunity to teach in a high school, start from there.

You want to leave paradise and come and dine with Lucifer in hell. What the hell is wrong with you?

That's how one of my pharmacist friend left his job in the UK (a pharmacy job) for Nigeria. Now he is stuck and wants to go back.

Your family members don't want you to come and be a burden to them. Forget about what they may be benefiting from you. As a neutral person, I'm telling you to stay. I still feel there are better living and working conditions there than here.

Please do not aim to be an unfortunate fellow. Many Yankee returnees are dragging jobs with the locals here in Naija. Don't be fooled thinking your foreign certificate gives you an edge over a Nigerian certificate unless you have an Harvard MBA.

I don talk too much sef. If I see you in this country ehn, na pestle I go use reset your thinking.

Good luck bro. All the best

Boss, you are very funny

I can understand how you feel but let him come and experience what is it like to live in zoogeria... I pray he doesn't listen to those telling him to come to his fatherland

ShyWhale:
I am a Nigerian in Germany with a German Masters degree. It's quite difficult to get professional jobs in Germany as an African as we are usually the last of the pack. The only luck I ever had was to get internships, internships that takes several months to get and usually only for short periods. The high percentage of Africans even with German Phds doing menial jobs is highly discouraging and depressing. Most are trapped in the race for survival and I can't imagine myself living life like them. I feel I could do better with my skills and education that spreads across Europe's top countries.

-What did you study in Germany at MSc.level??
-How far have you gone in learning the German language?

2piK:
You are quite right about the difficulty in getting professional jobs in Germany, but this is not a problem with Germany; it's a problem in every advanced economy. The system in these countries is to always protect the interest of their citizens (rightfully so in my opinion), it's in Nigeria that foreigners would come into the country as expatriates and enjoy the quality of life that its citizens cannot enjoy.

Now you won't like the next few paragraphs. You are entitled. Germany never asked you to come and neither were you promised a job on completion of your studies. You made the decision to integrate yourself into it's society. Have you ever considered that a country like Germany that offers tuition free studies up to PhD level will not have shortage of skilled talents to choose from? So why should you be picked over other talents available? Because you have a masters degree? Do you know how many people have the same masters degree? Or even higher qualifications?

Advanced societies are selfish and only care about integrating the best foreign talents into their societies. So invest in yourself and make yourself stand out. Before you try to make excuses, i will briefly share my personal story and hopefully it will help reinforce believe in yourself and know that you can do it. I was your age when i came to the UK for studies, having no one except God as my friend and family. I discovered quickly that this place called the United Kingdom is a battle ground and i have my work cut-out for me if i am going to make success of it (i won't bother giving examples of what i experienced that informed this thinking as i think it's irrelevant to key points in your post).

During my studies, i did cleaning, support work, care work, kitchen staff (i did any kind of menial job to survive) and i always had a smile on my face because my life was better than when i used to hawk in Nigeria. However, I didn't get discouraged and i completed my bachelors as the best graduating student for my cohort. Based on this, I was lucky to get part scholarship from the University to do my masters which i completed in flying colours. Then the UK had a post-study visa for 2 years, got a job as a software developer with this PSW visa. When my 2 year visa was about to run out my company sponsored me and I got a work visa for 5 years.

Fast forward to the present, i have completed a bachelors, 2 masters and almost a PhD (in my 5th year of my part time PhD programme), I am now a British citizen with qualitative and extensive work experience spanning several EU countries (which incidentally includes Germany, I worked in Berlin for eight months, staying at the Westin Grand at the expense of my employers) and am now a software architect consulting for companies with the remit of providing technical guidance to their software development teams. Even during my work, I continued investing in myself, hence the other masters and my PhD (despite now having my own family).

Do you know how i got Software development experience in the UK?
Before coming here, I had 5 years working as a programmer, on arrival here I knew between classes and doing all sorts of menial jobs; i wouldn't have the time to explore volunteer opportunities. So what did i do? I was going round all local businesses (when i had free time between classes) around the university introducing myself. I explained who i was, what i was doing here and how i can help their businesses. Most of them, told me to jog on (which is British slang for f*** off) in the most polite way possible. So in my first year, no one offered me nothing. But in my second year of my studies, I got lucky there was this care agency that got tired of seeing my face, gave in and asked me to build them an application for managing their staff rota (till today i don't know if they requested this because they thought i won't be motivated to do it for free or even be able to deliver it).

I gave it my best effort, spoke to my course advisor at the university about the project. She was impressed and helped me massively. She designed sprints for me in which i completed specific features each sprint. She helped with testing the software, she wanted me to succeed, I owe her everything. The agency liked it and i got other jobs through them (this was 100% free, i never got paid any money for this project). By the time i finished my degree i had done about 5 of such free projects (now i have a portfolio of my work).

Do you know how i got my first professional job?
I will tell you. I was doing a cleaning job in my university, i had a floor i cleaned every morning before going to class, my floor had about 20 offices or maybe more...can't really remember the exact number. There was a particular office that i hated cleaning, it was always messy and took me lots of time to clean (time that i did not have). Typically i finish my shift before the lecturers come in, but on this particular day, i was cleaning this useless office and the professor came in before i had finished. I greeted him like he was my creator and apologised for not finishing his office on time (even though he was the one who came early). The bastard just nodded and didn't even say a word to me.

I didn't know that moment was when my life would change. 2 weeks later i attended a seminar in the University and this bastard professor was one of the speakers! Next morning when i got to his office to clean, he was already there. I was taken aback and before i could say anything he asked if i was at his seminar the day before, i answered in the affirmative. We got talking, he told me a bit about himself and his research interest (the focus of the seminar) and he got to know i could write software. He said they needed a software intern that could do some work for the research group. I didn't even think, I said yes and that was "my first unofficial professional job", working for his research group. Bye bye cleaning job.

When i finished my bachelors degree, the research group recommended me to one of their industry partners. My interview revolved around discussing my portfolio (the free job i did for the care agency and the systems research group). I got the job and that was my "first proper official professional job" and I gave it my all. 4 months before my post-study work visa finished the company sponsored me for my 5 year work visa, my parents were crying when i told them over the phone. I will be honest and say that i was underpaid during the period i was on the sponsorship visa, other colleagues with same level of experience or even less were earning double what i was earning...but i kept telling myself, this will not be forever. But when i got my citizenship, it's like i was launched into a new world. I left the company and got a job with a Swedish company in UK that paid me a fortune compared to my previous salary. Not just that, by virtue of being an EU citizen 27 countries became open to me where i could go work and i took advantage of these benefits.

So you see, it can be done. Was it easy? Not at all, i went through hell. But i knew what i wanted for my life, had a plan and worked extremely hard and while i might not be rich, I think i have managed to achieve some of my dreams. You are still young brother, at your age i didn't have what you had. You CAN definitely do this.

So what is my advice?
Moving countries is not always the solution at times. If you haven't sorted out your approach and self-belief, regardless of wherever you go; you'll have the same problems. Also, whatever you do, get a second nationality before you return to Nigeria as that alone will open untold doors for you in future, even if things don't go to plan in Nigeria you know you can always activate plan b (second nationality). Start networking and investing in yourself, it won't yield fruits immediately but don't be discouraged, eventually your hardwork will pay off. The truth is advanced societies don't care about the colour of your skin all they care about is that you have something that they need! Make yourself that which they need!!

And when your situation improves and feel like you have achieved some of your dreams. Start investing in Nigeria. The country doesn't need more job seekers. It needs entrepreneurs. This is my story, I hope it motivates you to be strong.

good day sir, i dont really understand this..is it that you already had a bsc in nigeria , or you had all your higher degrees starting from your bsc in the UK ?

Akinwole007:
This is really informative. Thanks for sharing.
I sent you a PM. I will like to ask some few question about software development privately.
Thanks

I think some of us Nigerians need to cultivate how not to be selfish and think of others. Since my response to the OP's post, the volume of emails i have received from people wanting to have private conversations with me is unreasonable, in Europe time is expensive and folks back home need to understand this, if i spend my time responding to everyone individually; i won't have the time to continue my self development.

Whatever folks want to know, should be asked here for the following reasons:
- Asking questions on the thread ensures that other folks that have same questions can benefit from the answer.
- Other experienced folks on here can also contribute and maybe even give better answers than i probably can.

But most importantly, we need to learn how to research and figure things out for ourselves. Some of us never had the benefit of guidance (other than personal research) before embarking on our respective journeys. Let us have consideration for others.

Electricboy:
good day sir, i dont really understand this..is it that you already had a bsc in nigeria , or you had all your higher degrees starting from your bsc in the UK ?

If you read my post thoroughly, I believe you'd not have had to ask this question. But that's irrelevant, i shared my story to motivate the OP and everyone in the same situation that's considering giving up, so they know that they can achieve anything with hard work and God's grace. It's not about me, so if you don't understand the content of my post, that's also great. You don't need to worry about it.