“Japa”: Self-Volunteer Into Slavery Way Out

Abstract

The “Japa” syndrome is a slang and phenomenon in Nigeria that has awakened the sensibilities of many scholars who have written copiously about it in recent time. To Ogungbile (2023), the word “japa” is a Yoruba Locution which means to leave for greener pasture. Though, according to Ogunjobi (2022), the “japa” syndrome which is the Nigerian slang for emigration was said to have occurred in the 70’s/80’s as the first time of such scenario. Ogunjobi (2022) makes reference to the “big scramble” of the 16th to 19th centuries during which the British Empire and other European warlords made Africans go through the excruciating forced labour of slave trade. However, according to him, the current trend is no longer related to slave trade but can justifiably be termed, “self-trade”.