A recent news item by the Punch Newspaper was about what Mr. Paul Kalejaiye, a member of the House of Representatives representing Ajeromi-Ifelodun Federal Constituency in Lagos State had said.
According to the report, Kalejaiye was addressing a section of the Nigerian youths when he urged them to consider acquiring skills and staying back in Nigeria instead of traveling abroad (“japaing” in a popular Nigerian street lingo).
The parliamentarian is quoted to have said as follows:
Unfortunately , the japa syndrome has become phenomenal in recent times. People Japa because they believe there are greener pastures and that Nigeria offers nothing. But I want to encourage them to say that Nigeria offers the best. Even the japa we are talking about, you see graduates go there to wash coffins, do security jobs and others. These are menial jobs they don’t want to do here but when they get abroad they do just any job to make money”.
The newspapers couldn’t have reported what the audience had in mind upon hearing this admonition. But if you want to have a clue as to what the youthful audience had in mind, go to any of the social media pages where the news item is being discussed.
I monitored the comments on X and here are some very representative ones:
After studying the comments, I came to realize something: We can use the Japa Syndrome (as well as the ‘Yahuu Boys’ menace) to a lot of economic advantage in the country. Let me explain this briefly in the following paragraphs:
Skill Acquisition Programs
In Nigeria, various governments (local, state, federal) as well as NGOs, often come up with ’empowerment programs’ for the youths. That’s commendable. But, I think it needs some rethinking. How?
Let these empowerment programs encourage the youths to acquire top skills that are currently in-demand in the world market instead of already saturated local skills as is often the case. For example, since many of these youths obviously have a flair for using computers, they can be helped to learn skills related to cybersecurity, machine learning, cloud computing, data analysis, etc.
Then, through a well-planned loan scheme administered using the BVN and NIN databases, the government can provide infrastructure and equipment for a good number of the youths to work remotely from Nigeria following the ’empowerment program’. Even if some of the youths decide to travel overseas, they can work in those roles instead of doing menial jobs that lower Nigeria’s international reputation.
Let these empowerment programs encourage the youths to acquire top skills that are currently in-demand in the world market instead of already saturated local skills as is often the case.
Effect On Nigeria’s Forex Outlook
Through the above measures, Nigeria is certain to become one of the major exporters of tech skills. Clearly, this will help a lot in beefing up Nigeria’s foreign exchange outlook. It even seems that this is going to have a greater foreign exchange impact for the Nigerian economy than crude oil or any other natural resource.
Actually, enormous youthful population and energy constitutes one of our exportable products that are wasting in great amounts across the length and breadth of the country. So, instead of always seeing this only from negative perspectives, let us see how we can transform it to a lot of economic advantage as proposed here.
Other Advantages Of Doing This
Implementing the above proposal is certain to have a considerable positive impact on the local economy. But this impact is not only in the area of foreign exchange. Instead, with time, this will help to raise Nigeria’s international reputation as a country that is popular for providing needed tech values across the world.
On the reverse side, this will gradually stem the tide of the internet fraudster menace that is currently endangering Nigeria’s diplomatic health.
Moreover, the current government would become very popular among the youthful population for doing this. Above all, Nigeria would have achieved a lot of economic quantum leaps without having to spend too much.
To Nigerians: Help the Governments To Help You
As an individual Nigerian, if you agree with this proposal, the way to show your support is to help share it until it gets to the authorities. The more this proposal spreads, the more it becomes obvious to the governments that a good number of Nigerians want things done this way. Thanks.
Meanwhile, in case someone wants to know, here are the current most in-demand skills across the global job market according to Google’s AI bot on Christmas Day 2023:
END NOTE: The author of this article would be willing to assist any governmental or non-governmental entity in any aspect of the implementation of this proposal all for free. Therefore, for this and any other reason, anyone can reach the author of this article via eupt.ng@gmail.com
TYM Travel Magazine 