Why Nigerians abroad are moving back to Nigeria

Posted by Felix Okoli on Friday April 4, 2014 at 12:16:58:

There was a time when travelling out of the country to look for greener pastures was a norm in Nigeria. Young men who thought that they had better chances of succeeding in developed countries were leaving in greater number to look for better chances of survival outside this country, even those that were opportune to school outside the country refused to come back to Nigeria.

In recent times, you will notice that, not only has the number of people that travel out reduced drastically, but most people that travelled out of the country are now coming back to Nigeria. Let’s look at why Nigerians abroad are gradually moving back to the country.

Those Nigerians that trooped out of the country thinking that they had better chances of success in foreign country found out that it was not so easy or at least as easy as it used to be. Most of the countries they travelled to, do not have massive job opportunities as the used to have and so as immigrants, they found themselves still jobless in those foreign countries. Some that manage to land legal jobs are not paid as much as they thought they will be paid, and the tax rate is very high, even the little they earn goes back to paying taxes and mortgage, and this leaves them with little or no savings at all.

When they find out that they can’t cope with the system, they opt to come back to Nigeria where they can earn more and pay less tax, While some that do not want to come back resort to crime over there.

More and more Nigerians abroad in the wake of the global recession and rising policies against immigrants are now looking back to Nigeria whose economy seems to be growing and is becoming an attractive investment destination, even for rich countries.

Small businesses and entrepreneurs are becoming successful in Nigeria and in mos cases even more successful than most Nigerians who travelled abroad. Some Nigerians abroad are even coming back home only to find out that their classmates now own real estates while they have little or nothing to show for their many years in foreign lands.

Some Nigerians who had also being successful abroad for many years are also coming back home after suffering betrayals and persecutions in those foreign lands especially after getting divorced by their foreign wives and the law stops favouring them.

The bottomline is that there is no place like home and it's very hard to see Nigerians who never miss home unless they've just taken a vow to do so or have become full citizens of those countries they've emigrated to