Education here is expensive, especially for international students. My friends doing undergraduate programmes at the University of Alberta pay 50,000 CAD every single year.
THOUGHT I WOULD BE DEPORTED
Starting around 2018, my mom desperately wanted me to leave Nigeria. She would go to Poly Road and follow up with agents.
RETHINKING MY FUTURE IN NIGERIA
The first time I considered Japa was in 2018, when I graduated. I was the second person in the history of the Department of History to finish with a first class.
GERMANS COMPLAIN A LOT
Families here get child support from the government. It’s not like that in Nigeria.
GETTING USED TO REJECTIONS
Before coming here in 2021, I heard many stories that all Germans are racist and not friendly to foreigners. I prepared my mind for the worst.
FAVOURITE THING ABOUT AMERICA
My favourite thing about being in America is humiliatingly simple — the unlimited availability of electricity and Wi-Fi.
IN LAGOS, I HAD MY MOTHER
I was telling a friend the other day that I’m a sum total of all the different lives I’ve lived, all the values and belief systems that raised me.
APPLICATION DENIED!
I got one of my greatest shocks about this Jápa Syndrome at the United States Embassy in Abuja.
THE BURDEN OF LIVING EXPENSES
Most people within my age bracket who japa from Nigeria tend to do so through the graduate school route and rely on scholarships and other forms of funding.
THE NIGERIA I MISS
What I miss most about Nigeria is my mom and my brother. I miss their presence. I miss the feeling of just knowing that my eyes can move in the same direction as my mind when I wish to see them.