Olu Allen
Once upon a time, “japa” was whispered like a secret. Now it’s a badge of honor. Nigerians throw japa parties, Ghanaians film TikToks at Heathrow, Kenyans update LinkedIn bios with Canadian flags.
The migration rush is so normal that if you don’t have a cousin in the UK, you’re the odd one out.
But behind the happy Instagram posts of snowy streets and NHS scrubs, something deeper is happening. Africa is emptying its future. And the West is cashing out.
The Math the West Knows (But We Pretend Not To)
Europe has a problem: old age. Too many retirees, not enough babies. France protests when pension age is raised, but who will actually pay those pensions? The Germans have the same headache. Italians? Their towns are literally offering houses for €1 because nobody is left to live there.
So, when a young Nigerian nurse moves to the UK, she’s not just chasing “a better life.” She is plugging a hole in Britain’s welfare system. She is the reason a 65-year-old Briton can sleep easily knowing his pension is safe.
Take the NHS: nearly one in ten doctors and one in six nurses are foreign-trained. Nigerians make up one of the largest chunks. Walk into any UK hospital and you’ll hear Yoruba, Igbo, Hausa in the corridors. That’s not a coincidence, it’s a strategy.
Japa is not charity. It’s Europe buying the best workers Africa has produced—trained with African tax money, at discount prices.
Meanwhile, in Japan, Korea, and China…
Africa’s leaders love photo ops in Tokyo and Seoul. They admire the bullet trains, the neon lights, and the spotless streets. But here’s what they don’t see: those societies are shrinking.
South Korea has the lowest fertility rate in the world, 0.72 births per woman.
Japan is already nicknamed the “old people’s country.” Even China is quietly panicking after decades of the one-child policy.
Fast internet and shiny trains don’t give birth to children. Without immigrants, in 40 years, these countries will be skeleton economies. And yes, even China—the so-called billion-man nation—will start shopping for immigrants.
Guess which continent they’ll look at first? Africa.
Africa: The Last Human Factory
By 2050, one in every four people on earth will be African. Nigeria alone will overtake the US in population. Demographers call this a “youth bulge.” Translation? We are sitting on gold.
Instead of treating this demographic jackpot like a bargaining chip, Africa is literally giving it away. Our best doctors are in Manchester, our IT guys are in Toronto, our academics are in Houston. In return, we clap because “diaspora remittances” hit $20 billion.
Compare that to what we lose: whole medical systems collapsing at home. In Ghana, almost 4,000 nurses resigned in 2022 to move abroad. In Nigeria, some states have only one doctor for 50,000 people.
And yet, our leaders still stand at international conferences bragging about how much their citizens abroad are “supporting the economy.” It’s like celebrating that your house is on fire because your neighbor gave you water.
Southeast Asia Gets It
While African leaders pose at the Eiffel Tower, Southeast Asia is playing the game smart. The Philippines literally trains nurses to export abroad, then signs bilateral agreements so their workers are protected, and remittances are structured. Bangladesh and Vietnam negotiate labor deals with Europe and the Middle East.
They are exporting labor strategically. Africa is exporting labor by accident.
The Coming Realization
Soon, Africa will wake up and realize japa is not freedom—it is a strategic loss. The human beings who could have built African Silicon Valleys, world-class universities, and competitive hospitals are instead building up economies that were already ahead.
By the time Africa recognizes this, Southeast Asia will have positioned itself as the migration hub of choice, while we are left scrambling with aging leaders and weakened institutions.
Final Word
The West is not opening its borders out of kindness. It is survival. The workers they need to keep their economies alive are being shipped from Africa, one japa visa at a time.
Our leaders, shallow and distracted, don’t see it. They vacation in Paris while Paris quietly counts how many African children will grow up paying French pensions.
The future scramble is not for oil, not for gold, not even for tech. It is for people. And unless Africa wakes up, we will keep selling ours at a discount.
Japa will finish us.
Allen is a writer and educator who resides in Kano. He writes on public affairs and promotes good governance.
