Even though the grass is not greener on the other side, UI students insist they must leave the country

Estimated reading time: 5 minutes

Almost every UI student is planning to leave the country in search of greener pastures, and even if the grass is not greener on the other side, they insist they must leave the country.

The exodus (popularly called Japa or brain drain) of middle-class and highly skilled Nigerians which has been occurring in waves since the late 1980s to early 1990s is now becoming alarming every passing day.

This same trend has become prevalent among students and graduates alike. Recently, The PUNCH reported that 128,770 Nigerian students moved to the UK in seven years.

In a video interview conducted by our Correspondent, he spoke to students at the University of Ibadan about their intention to travel out of the country or stay back after graduation and the motivation for their intention.

For Samad, a final year history student, even though the grass is not greener on the other side, “let’s just get there first” was the young man’s response. In the same vein, Bella, an agricultural economics student, feels the grass will definitely be greener and life is better there.

For other students like Joshua, another history student, it is due to everything going on in the country. “The economic situation is bad, unemployment is skyrocketing, things are not favourable. I believe the best thing is to leave the country,” he said.

When asked if it turns out that the grass is not greener on the other side, he said: “I still think that regardless, whatsoever situation I find myself out there would be better than what we have here in Nigeria.”

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However, for a student like Oyinlola, a final year student of arts and social sciences education, he believes that there should be proper planning before leaving. “I can’t just leave without having a plan (on education and work). For someone like me whose father is not Dangote, I can’t go to school alone; I have to find a job/work to support myself while still schooling,” he said.

For most of the students interviewed, like Oyinlola, job opportunities, quality education top the reasons they are planning to leave Nigeria, not just for leaving’s sake.

In search of quality education

According to Sodiq, a student in the department of linguistics and African languages, “Going abroad gives one many tools and opportunities to learn.” This belief is also shared by Tijesunimi, a philosophy student who affirms that the education system is better there and they do not waste students’ life.

“If I get a scholarship to travel to travel or study, I’ll leave. My main purpose of leaving is to study because the stress in Nigeria is choking. It’s so stressful here in Nigeria when it comes to education. Talk of ASUU strike and stuff like that,” Tijesunimi said.

Rhoda, Tijesunimi’s friend in the same department, said she just wants to further her studies there; probably go do Masters there and may start living there afterwards.

Leaving Nigeria for job opportunities

While talking about job opportunities, “The pay for my course out there is more handsome than the pay here and I also want to leave for a better life,” Abdulmojeed, a medical laboratory science student said.

Noah, another student in the department of arts and social sciences education wants to leave the country for another country where his skills as a language teacher will be valued.

“Those in medicals are leaving this country to better places where they are well valued. So if there is a country where I’ll be valued, I’ll better leave. As a language instructor, I can leave this country to another where they are deficient of language teachers. It becomes an advantage to me because I’m going to the country that needs the skill I have and I can also utilize my skill there,” Noah said.

However, Samuel, a Communication and Language Arts student seems to have a different intention. He said it depends on the opportunities available to him here or there.

“The world has become a global village and most times, it’s not imperative to go abroad to receive certain opportunities. You can get opportunities in Nigeria. So while I’m not too keen about traveling abroad to get opportunities, I’m more about developing myself so that I can take advantage of the opportunities available here to me,” Samuel said.

“But of course, I’ll love to travel out at times, see the world, but I do not believe that the grass is always greener on the other side and that you have to go abroad to get opportunities to make a relevance in life,” he added.

Like Samuel, Oluwajuwon, another history student, is not also keen on leaving the country, he said it might be job opportunities, “but if I see good job opportunities in Nigeria, I’ll surely stay,” he added.

For Taiwo, another philosophy student, she is planning of leaving the country to hone her fashion design skills. “Yes, I intend to leave to learn more about my skill (fashion design) and then come back to explore and teach more young girls that can not go to learn over there.”

When asked if there are no places where she can learn fashion design, she replied: “We have a lot of places here in Nigeria, but learning over there seems less stressful and easier. They also have more machines and tools to enable one learn faster.”

Conclusion

From the interview conducted, it appears that the students’ intentions have been polarised into three ideological positions: On the one hand, there are students who believe that, no matter what, the grass is greener on the other side; on the other, there are students planning to leave the country in order to get better job opportunities and decent education; and lastly, students who believe that opportunities abound everywhere, whether here or there (and so students must be equipped with the right skills to grab these opportunities).

This interview was first published on Datatelly Nigeria by our correspondent as part of a requirement for his digital journalism course at the University of Ibadan.