Japa Syndrome ✈️
| Phrase: Japa
| Genre: Yoruba language
| Meaning: To run swiftly out of a dangerous situation
Hello Venturer,
How is the weather at your end? Not great? No worries. It would be dry season soon or summer- depending on your location. The skies will be clear and the air will be warm again. Perhaps you might want to take a trip to relax. I hear it's usually a great time to travel abroad. You know who might disagree though? People who have no intentions of returning to Nigeria. Let's call them the Japees. These are people who up and leave for a new country. Not for a vacation. But for better jobs, a working system and a better life.
Nothing unusual about that, you'll agree. But what happens when an alarming number of people decide to leave the country at the same time? Or worse, people in a particular sector. Will the industry still exist? Will the country survive? Remember when many Nigerian medical practitioners migrated to the UK? Well, word on the street is that Nigeria's tech talents are fleeing the country in large numbers to work abroad.
What is more worrisome is that more Nigerians are pivoting to tech to take advantage of this opportunity, tagging it their “ticket out of the country”. I wonder what sector the Japa bug will bite next?
This week, our writer, Oluwatosin Ogunjuyibe discusses tech as the new catalyst to Japa syndrome.
Orufa Suotunimi
Writer, Ventures Africa
What's new?
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Remember to stay safe!
