By Odunayo Agboluaje, Ibadan
A scholar at the University of Ibadan, Prof. Remi Aiyede, on Monday, said contrary to media reports, many young Nigerians do not want to leave the country in search of greener pastures popularly called ‘japa’.
Aiyede said the report of study he carried out revealed that many youths are not eager to leave the country.
He said the report, which was conducted in seven African countries, was sponsored by the MacArthur Foundation.
The professor stated this while speaking with The Guardian at the ongoing three-day training organised for new doctoral students of the Post-graduate College of the premier university.
The workshop was organised in partnership with the Consortium for Advanced Research Training in Africa {CARTA} at the Trenchard Hall of UI.
Aiyede said the purpose of the training was to make them fit to work and to support evidence-based decision making.
When asked if the candidates are not being trained for another economy, because of the ‘japa’ phenomenon, Aiyede said most Nigerian youths and other African countries did not want to leave the country.
Aiyede said: ‘’For the past six months, I was at the Partnership for African Social and Governance Research in Nairobi, Kenya. We did a study in seven African countries, including Nigeria, Ghana, Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia and Rwanda. That study was sponsored by the MacArthur Foundation. One of our shocking discoveries is that many young people in Nigeria don’t want to ‘japa’ contrary to what you see in the media and other places. People want to ‘japa’ because of certain conditions. If the conditions were different, they would not.
‘’We don’t see ourselves as preparing these candidates for another economy. I got my Ph.D here in the 90s, when ‘japa’ was very common and Nigeria was extremely tough under Abacha and Babangida. I didn’t ‘japa’. So, it is not everybody that will go. People going should not create any anxiety for us.
‘’So, that they are going to leave after this Ph. D degree is not us for worry but for the government to worry, because we have told them what the situation is. I reported only what we found in Nigeria. In Uganda, they didn’t want to leave the country and many of them want to go into agriculture. In Kenya, they are not talking but leaving but to have side hustles; they think that entrepreneurship is very important. They are not thinking about salary jobs’’.
Speaking, the Provost of PG College, Prof. Ayo Ogunjuyigbe, said the programme was to reduce the turnaround time for Ph.D students and officially institutionalise the Doctoral Academy at the university .
He said: ‘‘In the first year of their Ph.D programme. We found out that the turnaround time for Ph. D students has not been consistent. Some come for three years and end up spending six, seven, to eight years. It is not ideal for the kind of manpower that we want to develop for the nation. What we have done is to create an opportunity to build a situation where we can graduate students at the right time’’.