I always spend time musing about the conduct of Nigerians who have managed to travel abroad to live or work.
It’s as if they have hit a lottery jackpot and that those that are back home are actually scavenging food from garbage dumps.
The JAPA gang that travelled between 2019-2023 or so are actually the rambunctious bunch of them all.
They erroneously think relocating abroad started and ended with them.
Unknown to them, before JAPA there was checking out like Andrew in the 80s.
They’re unaware that people have been quietly travelling out for greener pastures since 1900 without so much as a whimper.
Some families attended Oxford and Cambridge universities in the 50s. A famous Pentecostal Pastor posted a picture of his mother’s university in Scotland. She read Medicine at that University in 1956.
Asians too, have been flocking to the West since the time of our forefathers. So many Khans, Patels, Singhs own huge estate portfolio and businessess in the United Kingdom. They have also produced a Prime Minister, countless Mayors and Members of Parliament. Yet you won’t see them bragging about their successes or failures publicly like we do. Or berating their ancestral homes like we love doing.
Maybe the unruly behaviour can be attributed to the allure of social media and the love of ring light fame. They just love to misyarn while thrashing Nigeria.
Okay you have relocated abroad and you’re doing well, must the whole world be inundated with daily gists about your life. Must you compare your present grocery shopping to your shopping time back home?
The one that riles me the most is the latest army of insufferable Diaspora Nigerians who are devoted to demarketing the country as enemy occupation territory.
They respond to positive news about the country with disgust. Ordinary Democracy Day greeting is met with harsh queries as if the abroad is land flowing with milk and honey.
Unknown to these folks, some JAPA people are not finding life funny in the famous abroad.
Some people have quietly JAPADAD without informing their friends. Others have cleverly pivoted to a hybrid arrangement. With some of them spending 6 months in Naija and 6 months in UK, US, Canada or Europe as the case maybe.
When President Donald Trump won the 2nd term in office, several celebrities and ordinary Americans in the US quietly relocated to Europe, Dubai , Singapore and Kenya. We’re yet to see George Clooney, Ellen, Harrison Ford, Brad Pitt and others set up ring lights like these unfortunate people openly to disparage their country. Even though they are not enamoured with the present occupant in the White House.
That’s how to behave my guys. One unfortunate Diaspora Nigerian streamed herself live walking through Manhattan explaining to onlookers why she left that ‘energy bereft country!’
Yet, ordinary Nigerians still wonder why outsiders disrespect and diminish us despite our huge returns in sports, entertainment, academia, business and more. They wonder why visas are drying up for routine travel. Just look at strident xenophobic tones against Nigerians in South Africa.
I dare say it’s time for us to play the game differently , albeit with more aplomb and strategy. First, they all should stop throwing stones at their father’s mansions. Then, stop scoring own goals in their own nets by providing ammunition for negative media machines.
Please join the conversation with your comments and feedback to mooborscounsellingroom@gmail.com.
By Mubo Okosun
Women’s Editor.
