With the surge in the migration of young Nigerians to Europe, different sectors in the country have begun to feel the impact of the ‘Japa’ syndrome. “Japa” is the latest slang amongst the Nigerian populace which is a Yoruba word which means to run away.
According to experts, it has been projected that the surge in migration by Nigerians may persist as there are little or no indicators that the country’s leadership will make any significant headway in terms of positive transformation.
Lately, the large percentage of technical workers in Nigeria’s telecoms sector has reportedly become a major concern for operators in the county.
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The telecom industry players are worried that this phenomenon may lead to poor quality of services if not addressed, as competent hands are resigning their positions in different telecom companies to seek greener pastures abroad.
According to the Executive Secretary of the Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), Mr. Akinola Olude, he disclosed that so far, over 2,000 telecom experts left the country this year with many still making plans to leave.
While speaking at the NITRA ICT Growth Conference 2.0 held in Lagos recently, Mr. Olude stated the sector could begin to face negative impact the quality service, if there are fewer competent hands to handle network issues.
In his words: “While we have been talking about the problems of multiple taxations and the high cost of Right of Way in the telecoms sector, a new challenge is coming up and that is the issue of brain drain in telecoms.
“Many competent hands are leaving the country for greener pastures abroad. In the course of this year alone, over 2,000 have left and many are still going to leave. We have to do something; the government has to do something in this regard to encourage Nigerians to stay.
“It’s human capital because it sounds like a joke but this is a serious issue that is leaving because the government has failed to provide the social infrastructure they need to survive.
“If Nigeria had built telecommunications knowledge Parks and put thousands of youths there, many of them can be working for foreign companies from there; that is outsourcing.
“They don’t have to run out of the country to work for foreigners. They will be doing that here and earning in foreign currencies. We need the government to build these Parks to encourage our young ones to stay.”
Meanwhile, a surge in migration of Nigerians has been attributed majorly to the myriad of problems that have ravaged the country. Nigeria is currently ravaged by a number of socio-economic issues, some of which include; insecurity, high cost of goods and services, corruption, unemployment, etc which is forcing some of its skilled workers to move out of the country in droves.