#japa

You're reading this on your phone right now — maybe on a danfo headed somewhere in Lagos traffic, maybe during your lunch break at work, maybe late at night when the generator is the only sound in your compound. And somewhere in the back of your mind, the thought is sitting there like a tenant that refuses to leave.

Every Nigerian family now seems to have at least one WhatsApp group chat dedicated entirely to "japa gist." You know the one. Someone shares a Canada Express Entry update, another person asks about UK skilled worker visa sponsorship for nurses, someone else drops a screenshot of a UCAS deadline, and somewhere in the middle of it all, an uncle who traveled in the 90s reminds everyone that "things were not this hard when I left o." I have that group chat too. Everyone does.