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Lesedi: Adedamola has many friends and… many nicknames.
Damola: People call me Dam Dam. And the people closest-ish to me call me Damsel… Some people call me Rubber Dam, which is a thing that we use in dentistry. Some people call me Dams. My mother calls me DM.
Lesedi: Her full name is Adedamola Adedeji, and we’re calling her Damola. The name most people call her.
Damola was born in Lagos, Nigeria, and is 28 years old. She’s been working as a dentist at a private clinic since she graduated from university two years ago. She loves her job and the people she works with.
Damola: One time I had to do an extraction for a younger child, and then when she was done she gave me a big hug. And then her mom joined the hug. So it was like this nice group hug. And I was happy.
Lesedi: Damola is also paid well. So, on the surface, it looks like she’s got a great life. But, as our reporter Mo Isu found out, looks can be deceiving.
Mo: Do you feel like you are where you’re supposed to be in life right now, at the age that you are?
Damola: That’s a very heavy question.
Lesedi: Damola says she can’t afford her life anymore. Nigeria’s cost of living is high, and getting higher. The economy has been in a downward spiral for the past two decades.
Damola: I woke up this morning and they’ve paid me salary. Now you might wonder, am I not supposed to be happy? No, I’m not.
Mo: So you’re not happy they’ve paid you salary?
Damola: It’s mixed feelings.
Lesedi: Mixed because of what’s happened since Bola Ahmed Tinubu was elected president last year. Petrol has gone up 500%. The country’s currency, the naira, has lost over 76% of its value against the US dollar. That means, today Nigerians pay twice as much for, say, a bag of rice than they did last year.
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Damola: One of the things that you see every time you shop, there’s one person somewhere, one or two or five, saying, “Ah!”, at the price of something. I feel like living in Nigeria, there are so many things that are just rising up against. Like, young people are really going through a lot. For me, what that just meant for me was I need to leave.
Lesedi: Leave her job. Leave her friends. Even leave her mum. It’s something she’s thought about for a while. And recently she started the immigration process. Just like tens of thousands of other young Nigerians. So many are leaving the country. A member of Nigeria’s House of Representatives called the situation a national emergency.
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Lesedi: I’m Lesedi Mogoatlhe and this is Radio Workshop. Maybe you’ve heard the word ‘japa’. It’s a Yoruba word meaning to flee or escape. This is exactly what young Nigerians are doing today. Many of them are highly educated, some of the country’s most promising minds. They’re leaving and don’t plan to return.
The word japa has taken on a life of its own.It’s having a cultural moment. There are memes about it. Songs about it. Even companies that help people japa. They assist with visa applications, book travel, and the like. And you may ask, where are they going? Well, there’s Canada. 22, 000 Nigerians migrated to Canada through the Permanent Resident Program in 2022, an increase of 7, 000 from the previous year.
The UK is another popular destination, with a visa program that draws those with skills in fields like engineering, medicine, and science. Of course, there are many young people still in Nigeria. Over 100 million Nigerians are below 35. But a recent survey, run by Africa Polling showed that 7 out of 10 Nigerian youth said they’d leave the country if they could.
Our reporter, Mo, was born and bred in Lagos. He’s seen japa first hand, and in this episode, he finds out why a seemingly successful young woman decides to pack her bags and leave behind everything she knows.
Mo: Let’s talk about your childhood a little bit. Like, where did you grow up in Lagos? What was growing up like for you?
Damola: So for me, right, you have to understand that we were middle class, possibly even upper middle class, but somehow, I don’t know when, but we became a lot lower than middle class.
Lesedi: Damola grew up in Lagos in the early 2000s. At that time, Nigeria was a young democracy with a promising future. Damola has three siblings. Her dad was a doctor, her mom a biology teacher. Her dad owned two hospitals, and her mom often traveled to Dubai on business. They had a car and a driver. They owned the house they lived in. Essentially, a lot of signs pointed to the fact that financially, her family was doing well.
But as she grew up, that changed. Nigeria changed.
Damola’s mom: Nigeria was so beautiful. Everything was so easy. There was electricity. We had pipe-borne water from government.
Lesedi: That’s Damola’s mum, Mrs. Taibat Adedeji, remembering what Nigeria was like growing up in the 70s. But these days, Damola’s Nigeria doesn’t have stable electricity or a functioning central water supply.
Young Nigerians like Damola have to make their own plan; a fuel-powered generator keeps the power on, and a borehole in the backyard provides water. Damola believes strongly that the Nigeria her parents grew up in and the one she currently lives in are two completely different countries. Take for instance the fact that Damola’s dad was about her age when he started his first hospital.
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Damola: If I stay in Nigeria, you think I’ll be able to start my practice, based on the way things are going?
Mo: You tell me.
Damola: I can tell you for a fact that I’ll have to take the amount of loan that my father could only dream of to start it because I don’t have it. I don’t.
Lesedi: Damola’s career as a dentist feels almost inevitable. Every single one of her siblings works in healthcare. There’s a pharmacist, a medical researcher, and a doctor. From a young age, Damola dreamt of being a doctor like her dad.
Damola: As a child, like, I used to sit down on the arm of my father’s chair while he sees patients.
Lesedi: Damola studied dentistry, not just because it’s in the family’s DNA, but in Nigeria, healthcare is one of the most sought-after professions. The entry-level salary for a doctor is more than double Nigeria’s minimum wage. About 160 thousand Naira a month. At today’s rate, that’s about a 100 US dollars. So, growing up, Damola expected that a life in healthcare meant she would be financially secure. But she’s found the reality to be different.
Damola: Why is my tangerine 1000? The orange one. The nice, juicy, sweet one.
Mo: The fruit.
Damola: Yes. It’s paining because yesterday I tried to buy it and they told me it was 1000 for one and I still bought it 500, two weeks ago.
Mo: You are not being serious though?
Damola: Do you think I’m joking?
Mo: 1000 naira?
Damola: 1000!
Mo: For one tangerine?
Damola: For one!
Mo: 1000 naira.
Damola: What have I done to deserve 1000 naira tangerine? Who am I to eat 1000 naira tangerine?
Lesedi: Damola is convinced leaving Nigeria is her only option. She’s done. At medical school, she saw a lot of doctors leave the country soon after they graduated. She says they finish medical school, board a plane with a degree in hand, and japa.
Damola: I knew that I wanted to also leave when I saw that they could leave as well. If there’s a way to leave, why not?
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Lesedi: According to Nigeria’s Association of Medical Doctors, most doctors in Nigeria have plans to leave. More than 3, 000 left the country in the past 3 years. Damola’s sister was one of them. She left for the UK in 2023. Then, Damola’s younger brother moved to Glasgow that same year to pursue a master’s degree.
Many of these doctors say they are leaving because of bad pay, long working hours, and run-down medical facilities. They are frustrated with the government’s mishandling of the economy and the skyrocketing cost of living. But there’s another reason so many young Nigerians are leaving now.
Protestors: No more SARS! No more SARS!
Lesedi: In October of 2020, Young Nigerians took to the streets in droves to protest against a unit of the Nigerian police called the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, also known as SARS. The unit became notorious for its use of force against young people.
PROTESTORS SHOUTING
Lesedi: The End SARS protests lasted 10 days. It was the largest revolt in Nigeria since its return to democracy in 1999.
For many of the protesters, it was a moment of hope. Change could happen! But the protests did not end in change. They ended in violence.
SHOOTING AT PROTESTORS
Protestors: Everyone stay down! Get down! Get down!
Lesedi: This was a breaking point for many young people.
Protestors: For now we are saying, we are not docile!
Lesedi: In the aftermath of End SARS, emigration numbers spiked to the point of concern for some Nigerians. Experts raised the alarm of a brain drain. Like in this TV interview with the honorable Philip Agbese, a member of Nigeria’s House of Representatives.
TV Presenter: Mr. Agbese, earlier today, you moved the motion on the floor of the Green Chamber, asking that japa syndrome be declared a national emergency. What exactly informed your action?
Mr. Agbese: The issue we raise today, is to actually address the remote cause of people migrating the way they do from Nigeria. For instance, doctors, you know, are leaving. These are our best brain. Nurses are leaving. They are not leaving because they are going for further studies.
They are leaving because we have a living condition that is not suitable for, for, for them in the country here.
Lesedi: While some lawmakers are trying to find ways to keep young people from leaving, for others, well, it’s more complicated.
Dr. Fasua: We can’t, we can’t hold anybody back, honestly.
Lesedi: Dr Tope Fasua is an economist and the Special Advisor to the President on Economic Affairs. He says young people are abandoning their country.
Dr. Fasua: People seem to think very little about stuff like patriotism, stuff like, um, heritage, you know, the implications are so many, but indeed, it’s a reality, is what it is.
Lesedi: Dr Fasua says young people are leaving. They’re japaing. Because they’ve lost hope in their country. They’re tired of waiting and hustling. They want success now.
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Lesedi: For Damola, the reasons to leave just kept stacking up. The protests, the exodus of her friends, her brother and sister, the inflation… But the straw that really broke the camel’s back was a call she received one morning. Her diabetic father had been rushed to the emergency unit at the hospital, and admission was going to cost 1.6 million Naira. If you earn minimum wage, that’s almost two years of your salary. Even for Damola’s family, it was a lot.
Damola: I think one of the things that’s hounded me for a long time was the fact that I realized that in Nigeria, if you don’t have money, you will die.
Lesedi: Damola’s family was lucky. They managed to raise the money, and her father was treated and discharged within a few weeks. But some months later, in January 2024, her father died. Damola’s heart was broken.
Damola: My life changed. Everything actually just changed. Like, I feel like I eat different. I sleep different. I breathe different. Like, everything is actually really different. You have no idea.
Lesedi: Damola was more than ready to leave Nigeria at this point. She’d already started her emigration application. And she was headed to Canada. Or so she hoped…
Damola: [singing] You are the most high king. Great Jehovah…
Lesedi: Damola is on the phone with a friend. Praying for her emigration application to come through.
Before deciding on Canada, Damola considered a few options. She could go to the UK to earn a master’s degree or take a licensing exam to practice dentistry in a different country. But these options cost a lot, and Damola couldn’t afford it. Canada is a popular choice for Nigerians. The path to citizenship is pretty straightforward.
Damola chose the Express Entry Program for skilled immigrants. It’s a visa that would grant her permanent residency status. And it wouldn’t require much from her since she’s a qualified medical worker. All she had to do was write an English language exam and get her university degree evaluated.
Damola: Those two things are all you need to enter the pool. Then you enter the pool and swim, like your life depends on it.
Lesedi: Then Damola filled in a form on the Canadian Immigration website.
Damola: After that you wait.
Lesedi: Wait and pray. For more than 6 months.
Damola: I’ve been waiting, I’m still waiting.
Mo: How do you feel to be waiting? Like what’s, like…
Damola: I hate it.
Mo: Yeah?
Damola: I don’t like it.
Lesedi: While she waited, Damola started sharing her plan to move with her friends and co-workers.
Dr. Adewale: So for me, as the clinical director, it’s a bittersweet feeling, right?
Lesedi: That’s Damola’s boss, Dr Aisha Tayo Adewale. She’s lost two dentists to japa in the past year alone. Damola’s the third. There’s a fourth on the horizon.
Dr. Adewale: I love my dentists now, and the fact that, you know, they’re leaving, I have to start the recruitment process, you know, you don’t, you don’t have that stability.
But at the same time, I’m not blind. I can see what is going on in the economy. I can see what is going on in the environment. And I can’t say, I can’t be selfish and say, oh, they shouldn’t japa.
Lesedi: Japa has become a drain on the doctor’s business. She’s constantly losing employees. In the last 4 years, she’s had a complete turnover of staff.
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Dr. Adewale: I’ll tell you that medical school, dental school in Nigeria is cheap. It’s cheap. I would, I’ll tell you for free. The government is doing a fantastic job doing that. But guess what’s happening? It just seems like they’re training people for free. Once they are done, they’re out.
Lesedi: In 2022, Nigerian lawmakers proposed a bill to withhold issuing medical licenses to new doctors until they had worked for 5 years in the country. Not having a license means a physician can’t easily emigrate. But this was met with protests from the Nigerian Medical Association. It’s still being debated.
In the meantime, young Nigerians keep trying to leave.
Damola: This is it.
Lesedi: It’s been 9 months since Damola took the first steps towards Canada when she wrote her English proficiency exam. 6 months since her father died. The waiting has finally ended. The email she’s been waiting for is here.
Damola: This is it! I’ve actually gotten it. Am I going to cry? I didn’t know they sent it in English and in French. Oh my God, this is it.
Lesedi: Damola immediately calls her friends and her mom.
Damola: Mommy I have news! The eagle has landed!
Lesedi: Mo, our reporter, spoke to Damola’s mom about the news, that Damola will be leaving in September, in just two months’ time.
Mo: I feel like you’ve experienced, or you’re experiencing a lot of change.
Damola’s mom: This japa, it’s denying, it’s robbing us, the parents, of having a close relationship physically with our children.
Lesedi: As someone who has seen so many of his friends and family japa, Mo couldn’t help but wonder how Damola was dealing with leaving her mother behind.
Mo: What thoughts, are you lending to your mom as you plan to leave, and your sister plans to leave?
Damola: She will feel alone. She will feel alone. Like, see, I’m not going to be optimistic. Her husband died. She is alone. Her children will leave. Her children have left.
So it is not a whether or not she will feel alone. It is us just trying to do the most that we can, to be honest. But as to whether or not she will feel alone, that is not even a question. Unfortunately, it is what it is.
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Lesedi: Murtala Mohammed International Airport in Lagos is always busy. There are long and winding queues and the usual amount of organized chaos. The air conditioners are fighting a losing battle against the humid Lagos heat. Damola’s mom and her sister Lola are by Damola’s side to see her off.
Damola: [laughs] Why is it not opening?
Mo: What are you doing?
Damola: I’m trying to redistribute my luggage.
Lesedi: Damola’s wrestling with her luggage. She just found out one of her suitcases is overweight. The challenge of trying to pack your whole life into two 23 kilogram bags.
Damola: Mommy, it was 26?
Damola’s mom: Which one is 26?
Damola: That one! And that means we have to remove it. Like two kg.
Lesedi: In a few hours, she’ll fly to Toronto to start her new life. Her mom has connected her to extended family she didn’t know she had there. She will live with them until she can find a job and afford a place of her own. She’s not sure how long that will take.
Mo: Is this your first time traveling out of Nigeria?
Damola: Yep.
Mo: And you are traveling for good?
Damola: Yeah. Bye! Bye bitch.
Lesedi: It’s the 29th of September. Damola says she can’t help but notice she’s leaving two days before Nigeria’s Independence Day on October 1st.
Damola: It feels like the perfect fuck you. Yeah, that’s what it feels like. I was thinking about it. Ah! Independence Day! I’ll be being independent in another man’s land! Shalom.
Lesedi: After she redistributes her luggage, Damola walks to the check-in desk with her mom and sister.
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Lesedi: Then Damola makes her way to security. And her mum slowly walks out of the airport with Lola. The last of Damola’s siblings left in Nigeria. She’s 31 years old, and works as a pharmacist. Lola checks her email every day, waiting to hear about her visa.
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Lesedi: This story was reported and produced for Radio Workshop by Mo Isu. With the support of assistant producer Elejha-ze Gengan. Rob Rosenthal and I edited this podcast. Original music by Qhamani Sambu at Edible Audio in Cape Town. Sound engineering by Jo Jackson and Mike Rahfaldt. Jo Jackson is our managing producer.
Mike Rahfaldt is our executive producer. Additional clips from Sky News and Adeola Fayehun. This episode and the work of Radio Workshop would not be possible without the support of Luminate, the Doc Society, Shin Creek Trust, the Anne Levy Charitable Trust, the SCP Foundation, and Pam and Bill Michaelcheck.
Find out more about what we do and support our work at radioworkshop.org.
Sources
The Canadian Magazine of Immigration – Nigerian Immigrants to Canada
Africa Polling – The Nigeria Social Cohesion Report
Nexford University – Top 10 Highest Paying In-Demand Jobs In Nigeria 2024
Trading Economics – Nigeria National Minimum Wage
Inquire Salary – Doctors Salary in Nigeria
Voice of America – Nigeria Copes With Growing Shortage of Doctors, Nurses
Acknowledgements
Luminate, The Doc Society, The Shin Creek Trust, The Anne Levy Charitable Trust, The SCP Foundation, And Pam And Bill Michaelcheck.