It is well known that many Nigerians are migrating abroad in search of the proverbial greener pasture. The reason prompting this act ranges from economic struggles to sheer adventure. The most popular reason for emigration from their country is Education. The number of Nigerians traveling to the diaspora will continue; those already there will surely influence their children to succeed. One of the reasons Nigerians migrate to the diaspora is to be able to give their children a better opportunity and a different life.
Young Nigerians leave to offer more opportunities to their children, as well as for a promising education for themselves. Education is very important to everything in a Nigerian household, there is a ubiquitous aphorism within the Nigerian community that assigns the best inheritance as a parent to give their wards is not gold, jewelry, or material things, but a good education.
According to the 2017 data from the Migration Policy Institute, Nigeria is the most highly educated, with 61 percent having at least a bachelor’s degree in the US compared to 31 percent of the total foreign-born population and 32 percent of the US-born population. Half of the Nigerian immigrants were most likely to occupy management positions, compared with 32 percent of the total foreign-born population. Similar Nigerian success is reflected in the United Kingdom as well as other foreign countries. What drives the success of Nigerians within the country and in the diaspora? Will the future generation continue this legacy?
Nigerians migrate abroad for better career opportunities, higher employment rates, more health, political stability, more fertile land, and lower risk from natural hazards.
Nigerians are presumed to obtain a unique willingness to work. You won’t be surprised when you see lots of Nigerians abroad having two, three, or more jobs in a day. Even Nigerian students abroad are looking to get a part-time job in order to survive. Nigerians get lots of jobs to survive abroad. They don’t even mind doing some stressful jobs like a traffic warden, shop assistant, sales representatives, car washers, taking care of the elderly in the old people’s home, the post offices, mortuary assistants, underground tickets collectors, sweepers, etc
Nigerians take risks to travel to different places in the world, they take risks to invest in businesses, and they take lots of risks to position themselves in so many kinds of places. Nigerians are conditioned not to say no, they don’t care about racial bias, they just want to explore good opportunities, and they are extremely resourceful.
High expectations and words of encouragement, by merely expressing words of encouragement through which expectations, are camouflaged can go a long way in contributing to success. Modern-day cognitive psychology supports the notion that expectations can subconsciously and ubiquitously control people’s lives for better or worse. Nigerian parents realized that engaging with their children directly by expressing with no fear and no caveat the expectations that they have for them is a weapon and such a weapon ensures the professional and academic success of their offspring studying abroad and in Nigeria as well.
Though it may appear crude as an approach to raising children, it has worked in their favor.
Setting goals for your children and encouraging them to accomplish more beyond their abilities may be one of the many solutions to ensuring their success.
Nigeria has a rich cultural history and they are very talented and resilient people. One of the major issues the country faces is bad governance and poor infrastructure. If only these issues can be resolved, Nigeria is proclaimed to be one of the greatest countries not only in Africa but the globe at large. Will the government ever change?
