Author: user user

In Nigeria, leaving the country has become one of the most ambitious investments a family can make. It is an expensive one.

Savings accumulated over years are converted into tuition fees, visa applications, professional examinations, relocation costs and the first uncertain months abroad. Parents who once invested their hopes in land, shops or businesses increasingly invest in something less tangible: a family member’s access to another economy.

The language may be japa. But the economics are more serious. Migration is no longer simply about escape. For many Nigerian households, it has become a form of economic strategy.

The calculation is straightforward. Where will education produce the highest return? Where will professional skills earn the greatest value? Where can one person’s relocation improve the prospects of an entire family? These questions are helping to reshape the Nigerian dream.

The ambition was once to become wealthy enough to build a successful life at home. Increasingly, the first major investment is in acquiring the option to build that life somewhere else. The numbers tell part of the story.

In the year ending June 2024, an estimated 120,000 Nigerian nationals moved to the United Kingdom for the long term, making Nigerians the second-largest non-EU nationality group arriving in the country during that period, according to the UK’s Office for National Statistics.

The route itself is revealing. Study has become more than education; it has become an economic bridge. Official UK statistics show that Nigerian nationals received 37,090 sponsored study visas in the year ending December 2025, a sharp recovery from the previous year. At the end of 2024, 89,022 Nigerian migration journeys held valid sponsored-study leave in the United Kingdom.

‘Every country exports something. Nigeria exports oil. It exports agricultural products. It exports services. But increasingly, Nigerian households are also exporting their most valuable asset: people in whom families have already invested years of care, education and ambition.’

But the more interesting story begins after departure. Nigeria received approximately $22 billion in personal remittances in 2024, according to World Bank data. That figure exposes an uncomfortable paradox. Nigeria loses people, then counts on some of them to send money back. The household that spends heavily to finance a daughter’s master’s degree abroad may eventually receive remittances from her. The family that supports a son’s relocation may later depend on him for school fees, medical bills, rent, business capital or the next sibling’s journey.

Migration, in this sense, can become self-financing. One departure creates the resources for another. This is why the debate about migration cannot be reduced to brain drain. The more consequential question may be whether Nigeria is experiencing an investment drain.

Every country exports something. Nigeria exports oil. It exports agricultural products. It exports services. But increasingly, Nigerian households are also exporting their most valuable asset: people in whom families have already invested years of care, education and ambition.

The destination country receives the worker at the point where someone else has paid much of the cost of producing that human capital. Nigeria receives the remittance. The migrant receives a potentially higher return on skills.

The family receives support. Everyone, in the short term, can benefit. But the long-term question is harder. What happens when the most attractive investment available to an ambitious household is no longer a business, a farm, a factory or a professional career built in Nigeria-but an exit strategy?

That is when migration stops being merely a personal decision. It becomes an economic signal. It says something about where Nigerians believe opportunity compounds. This does not mean migration is a failure. Nigerians abroad contribute knowledge, investment, networks and remittances. Many will return. Others will build businesses that connect Nigeria to global markets.

The problem is not that Nigerians leave. The problem is when leaving becomes the country’s most convincing development strategy. A healthy economy should give its citizens choices.

People should be free to leave because they want to explore the world-not because remaining feels like accepting a lower ceiling on their ambitions. Nigeria’s challenge, therefore, is not to stop migration. It is to become a country where staying is also a rational investment.

Where a degree can produce a competitive return at home. Where building a company is not merely preparation for relocating it. Where a young professional can imagine a globally competitive future without first needing another country’s labour market to validate their value. The Nigerian dream should not be measured by how many people leave. Nor by how much money they send back.

Its deeper measure should be whether the country can once again persuade its most ambitious citizens that the future they are investing in can also be built here. Because when leaving becomes a family’s most reliable path to economic advancement, migration is no longer simply a movement of people. It is a movement of belief. And perhaps Nigeria’s most important economic challenge is not bringing everyone home.

It is rebuilding enough confidence in home that leaving is no longer the only dream that makes economic sense.

The Federal Government’s special intervention to ease passport processing for Nigerians in the United Kingdom has encountered operational challenges barely a day after commencement, with applicants alleging delays, poor coordination and demands for additional administrative fees.

The intervention, which began on Monday, September 7, was designed to address backlogs involving new passport applications, renewals and other pending cases among Nigerians living in the UK.

However, videos and posts circulated on social media on Monday showed Nigerians gathered at some of the designated intervention centres, with applicants complaining about delays and difficulties gaining access to the facilities.

One video showed a crowd waiting outside a locked entrance believed to be the passport intervention centre in Manchester.

An X user who shared the video said applicants who arrived early in the morning were still waiting several hours later without being attended to. ‘It is now 11:30 a.m., and people who arrived as early as 9:00 a.m. are still waiting, with nothing happening,’ the user said.

The user expressed concern that some applicants had travelled long distances and taken time off work to participate in the exercise.

‘This is not the way to treat Nigerians who have taken time off work, travelled long distances, and paid for passport services,’ the post added.

The applicant called for better planning, organisation and communication to prevent a recurrence of the problems.

‘Please, we cannot continue doing things this way. We need proper planning, better organisation, clear communication, and an efficient system that respects people’s time and dignity,’ the user said.

Another video purportedly recorded at one of the intervention centres in London showed a man asking Nigerians gathered at the venue to leave the premises.

According to social media posts accompanying the video, the man was identified as the owner of the lounge reportedly booked for the passport intervention exercise.

He was heard expressing frustration over the organisation of the exercise, alleging that there were inadequate security personnel and staff at the venue.

‘We’re done for today, deal with the embassy, I can’t take it. It’s unorganised, no security, no staff,’ the man said in the video. An X user who posted the video further alleged that the venue owner contacted the UK police following the disruption.

The user also claimed that the venue operator had complained about non-payment and the absence of adequate personnel to manage the exercise.

‘You successfully embarrassed us in front of the UK police and a Lebanese owner because of your incompetence. He said he hasn’t been paid, no staff, no security,’ the user said.

The post further claimed that only a small number of applicants had been attended to several hours into the exercise, alleging that ‘three people’ were attended to in one hour and that only 12 people had been processed by 2 p.m.

The allegations could not be independently verified from the videos and social media posts.

Beyond complaints over delays and coordination, some Nigerians also accused officials involved in the intervention of demanding an additional £70 described as an administrative fee.

The allegation has generated further concerns among applicants, particularly because the Federal Government had announced official passport fees for the intervention without indicating that applicants would be required to pay an additional administrative charge.

The Ministry of Interior, however, moved to clarify the issue on Monday, denying that the government or the Nigeria Immigration Service had introduced any additional charge for the exercise.

Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, Minister of Interior, said he was concerned about the difficulties encountered by Nigerians during the commencement of the intervention.

In a statement issued by Alao Babatunde, his special adviser on media and publicity, the minister said the government was aware of the inconvenience experienced by applicants and was working with relevant authorities to address the challenges.

Tunji-Ojo also rejected reports that applicants were required to pay additional administrative fees.

‘It is therefore necessary to clarify that this process does not come with extra cost different from the official fees of $150 and $230 for a five-year and ten-year validity passports respectively, exclusive of bank charges,’ the statement said.

‘Neither the Ministry of Interior nor the Nigeria Immigration Service has introduced any other charges outside the aforementioned.’

The minister said consultations were ongoing with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to ensure that the challenges experienced at the centres were resolved.

He said the government was committed to making the intervention exercise more efficient and ensuring that Nigerians living in the UK could access passport services without unnecessary hardship.

The passport intervention exercise was launched last month as part of efforts by the Federal Government to address the backlog of passport applications affecting Nigerians in the UK.

The exercise is scheduled to run from September 7 to 19 across selected locations in the UK and is targeted at Nigerians requiring new passports, renewals and resolution of pending passport cases.

The intervention is part of efforts by the government to improve passport services for Nigerians in the diaspora, amid longstanding complaints over delays, appointment difficulties and challenges accessing consular services.

A three-storey commercial building has collapsed in the Wuse area of Abuja, with emergency agencies conducting search and rescue operations amid uncertainty over the number of people who may have been affected.

The FCT Emergency Management Department (FEMD) said it received a distress call at about 7:20 p.m. on Monday, September 7, and immediately mobilised emergency responders to the scene.

The FCT Police Command, however, said it received the distress call at approximately 7:45 p.m., identifying the location as Abidjan Street, Wuse Zone 3, Abuja.

FEMD described the location as Wuse Zone 4.

In a statement issued by Nkechi Isa, Head, Public Affairs, FEMD, on Monday in Abuja, eyewitness accounts indicated that there were no casualties as of the time of the statement.

The statement said, however, that search and rescue operations were still ongoing as responders awaited the arrival of an excavator to enhance the search.

The police said no victims had been confirmed so far, but responders were continuing to search the rubble for anyone who may be trapped.

A significant development in the incident is the police disclosure that the collapsed building had previously been marked and sealed by the Department of Development Control, Abuja.

The police said preliminary investigations showed that the structure had been sealed before the collapse, while an investigation is underway to determine the circumstances surrounding the incident and its possible cause.

A police response team led by Edward Akaniyene, Assistant Commissioner of Police, Department of Operations, and Georgelyn Ufomadu, Area Commander, Metro, responded to the scene alongside officials of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Federal Roads Maintenance Agency (FERMA), Federal Fire Service (FFS), Security Service Department, Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA), and other relevant emergency agencies.

The agencies have commenced coordinated search and rescue operations, with authorities yet to establish the full extent of damage or confirm whether anyone remains trapped beneath the rubble.

FEMD said details concerning the number of persons affected and the cause of the collapse were still emerging.

Both agencies urged members of the public to remain calm and stay away from the affected area to give emergency responders and security personnel unrestricted access to carry out rescue operations.

The police also urged residents to remain security-conscious and promptly report suspicious activities or emergencies through their emergency lines.

Further details on casualties, the extent of damage and the circumstances surrounding the collapse are expected as search and rescue operations and investigations continue.