Tinubu told us not to japa on Democracy Day — I don laugh finish

President Bola Tinubu used his Democracy Day broadcast on Friday June 12 to beg young Nigerians not to abandon ship. He said verbatim, "Nigeria is your home and your future. Build here, code here, work here, and vote here. Every great nation was built by those who stayed to solve problems, not by those who abandoned ship." Meanwhile, over 75,000 health workers have left the country in recent years, universities are losing lecturers faster than hospitals lose doctors, and the oil and gas sector is crying about engineer shortages. But migrants are sending home over $20 billion every year, so the economy is somehow surviving on the backs of the very people he is asking to stay.

I get the sentiment, I really do. But telling someone earning 400k in Lagos that their future is here when their colleagues in Canada are buying houses in two years — that message lands flat. The government says its reforms will fix things, but techies, engineers, and teachers are still packing their bags. So who is going to build this country while everyone is waiting for the reforms to work? Be honest — would you stay if you had a visa in your hand right now?