No vigils for electricity, security,’ Alibaba explains reasons for japa trend
Veteran Nigerian comedian, Atunyota Akpobome, popularly known as Alibaba has shared his thoughts on the rising trend of Nigerians relocating abroad popularly called ‘japa’.
In an interview on Outside the Box Podcast, aired on YouTube on Saturday, Alibaba said the reasons behind the movement are often tied to frustration with the country’s infrastructure, security concerns, and the financial burden of maintaining a family in Nigeria.
Alibaba began by recounting the lifestyle of a man, an Assistant General Manager at a bank on Lagos Island, who experienced financial pressures to maintain his household where he spent N150,000 monthly on fuel and about a million naira on diesel for electricity.
Alibaba explained, “He had three cars, the one the office gave him, his personal car which the madam uses and one for the house. The office takes care of the official car including fuel and driver, so he has to take care of two cars. The driver will take two children to one school, then the madam will take the other child to the other school. Every month he was spending N150,000 on fuel, and then at home, he was doing about a million naira on diesel to provide electricity.
“The wife had a confectionary business at the back. Feeding for the family, his drivers, and the siblings living with them. Security was also very important. Education was expensive, two were below twelve, and the other one was about 13 or 14. He has to pay the house rent every year. Mortgage is not something we’re used to here, I think it’s just beginning to grow on us. When he totalled all of this, it was running into N22-N23 million every term, about every quarter.”
“Then he said if I convert this, can I be doing it as mortgage to a house I have overseas? Alibaba continued, emphasising the differences between living in Nigeria and abroad.
“If he does that, would he still be paying school fees for the children? He may not be paying school fees, they’ll go to public schools. There, school buses will pick up and drop them or the distance to school is walkable.
“What is the security for children? Will anybody kidnap two of his children and come and say bring money? No. When the children graduate what are the chances that they would find work there and what are the chances that they would find work here?
“If he is there, would he be employing drivers and paying for gateman, security, washman and others? No. Most times when people do all of those calculations, they come to a point where they say let’s give it a shot.”
Alibaba also pointed out that the challenges of living in Nigeria, such as the constant security risks, police harassment, and unreliable infrastructure often outweigh the potential for financial success.
He said, “It is true that when you are in Nigeria, the chances and opportunities that come to you to make a lot of money increase. Some of them don’t pay taxes. You can just be named Commissioner for Finance and your economic trajectory has changed. Would that happen overseas? No!
“But would somebody kidnap your children overseas and demand something and they can’t find the people? No. Would you get a call one day and they say your son was carrying dreadlocks and they’ve picked him up and said you should come and bail him?
“Would the police stop you at night and the chances of you having an altercation with them arise overseas if you’re not living right? Yes, but if you’re living right you don’t have that kind of stress.”
He emphasised that the reasons for relocation are often driven by the disappointment people feel towards the country, the government and the people in it.
Highlighting the country’s issues with databases and identification, Alibaba criticised the lack of a reliable national registry.
He said, “Would somebody hit your car and run off and the person who hit your car can’t be found? And so the cost that you have not planned to spend on your vehicle, you then have to spend.
“A house help runs away with all your jewellery, phone and cash. Can’t be found. Why? Because there’s no database in this country.
“250,000 people signed a petition, no thumbprint to verify who and who signed. Meanwhile when there was an election nearly less than 70,000 were even registered for that election but when it was time for a recall 250,000 people came from nowhere in a place where you were even planning to trick some people into coming and signing a petition without knowing that was what they wanted to come and sign.”
He also touched on the inconsistencies in Nigeria’s population census, pointing out that without accurate demographic data, the government is essentially budgeting blindly.
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He said, “People have been clamouring for population census. As far back as the time of Jesus, in Bethlehem, it was an annual thing to go and be counted.
“The last census that you had in 2005/6 was not even conclusive, because when you did it, you came up with two hundred and seventy-something million and when the number started being disputed with people saying they didn’t come to our street, they came to our street and counted two first houses, they didn’t come back to count the rest, the numbers were reduced to the 220million that we then banded around for a while.
“Why do you not have a census? Without a census, it means that you’ve been budgeting blindly.”
Alibaba continued by discussing the financial strain many Nigerian families face saying that this leaves many young people seeking a better future overseas, where systems function more efficiently.
He said, “All of these myriads of problems are enough for anybody to decide let me take a chance. You fight to raise a child well so that when the child has grown, the child then fights to raise you well.
“What is happening now is that children get to 40 and the parents who raised them are still taking care of them at 40.
“Now you then have a case of when these children go out of the country to live overseas, they see that everything works, you don’t need prayers. You don’t need to do vigils over electricity, security, road accidents.”
