By Khoze Clement
When the hope of getting even one meal for one’s family or an individual is impossible, desperation and frustration set in, one begins to crave for a better life abroad. “I’ll move abroad, find a job and have my family join me”, “I’m determined to give my child a better life”, Domestic work are plenty abroad” It is that easy to say for some people, these and many more are the dreams of migrants.
Some families feel that their children can only be materially successful abroad especially in some states of the South South region of Nigeria. Hence, they use the idea of traveling abroad to spite their children, comparing them to their mates abroad, stating how much money they’ve sent back home to purchase properties.
This notion is so strong that parents uses diabolic means or sometimes borrow money to ensure their children or relatives travel abroad, through legal and illegal means, not minding the consequences; not to mention the economic challenges currently facing Nigeria, force majority of our youths to dream of a new life abroad.
Although some have fled from insurgency/natural disasters, however they have failed to consider these following questions: Do all find the better life they aspire for? How do children fare when a parent leaves in search of a better income? What are the dangers in the Sahara Desert and the Mediterranean Sea? How would I hide from traffickers who abduct migrant women and forced them into prostitution, if I travel through illegal means? What if things do not work out, will I have the courage to cut my losses and go home to face possible disgrace and humiliation?
In as much as “Migration…… is the oldest action against poverty wrote economist J.K. Galbraith, taking into account these questions will enable our youths to look inwardly, find the antidote to get-rich quick syndrome and learn to start small in our various countries.
The various stakeholders in the affected countries have the responsibility to continuously addressing this problem especially from the grass root which have been observed to be the constant mental strain caused by some parents.
