With 3.6m Nigerians migrating in two years, ‘japa’ is modern slavery, says don 

As Nigeria grapples with the migration of over 3.6 million citizens in two years, Prof Godwin Akper has described the ‘japa’ syndrome as a journey towards modern slavery.

The don, while delivering the 25th inaugural lecture at the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN), yesterday, in Abuja, also decried the religious manipulation in Nigeria in the pursuit of personal interests.

Akper, who doubles as the Deputy Vice-Chancellor in charge of Technology, Innovation and Research in the institution, lamented the abandonment of the dreams of the country’s forebears the present crop of leaders.

Africa, he emphasised, has the potential to rejuvenate acceptable community life, even as he called for moral regeneration in public spaces. In the inaugural lecture entitled, ‘Are we the reason? (Christian) Religion in the Nigerian Public Spheres’, the professor of African Christian Studies: Systematic Theology noted that the public face of Christian religion in contemporary Nigeria was shaped by the ‘public church’.

He stated: “The future of our dear nation depends on our early realisation of the ethics of hospitality and ubuntu in our local communities. We teach Nigerian peoples and cultures, yet our graduates find it difficult to identify who they are as Nigerians.

“This may be a factor contributing to the ‘japa’ syndrome among adults and our youths. Our graduates today hail their mates, who secure either work permits or Green Cards to commence what I consider to be a journey towards slavery to Asian, Middle East and Western economies.”

According to him, African countries can comfortably feed their teeming population without feeling the pinch. “This is, if our leaders of the time, mean to do so. We have left the dream and ideals of the founding fathers of Africa and Nigeria. So, we are now reaping what we never planted. But the dreams of our ‘fathers’ and our ‘heroes past’ can be resurrected through moral regeneration on our campuses and public spaces, if the essentials of our religions are rightly appropriated in our public spheres.”

To drive home the important place the church occupies in dealing with matters of faith and intelligibility in public spheres, he contended that Christian Theology would have to deal simultaneously with three publics: the church, society and academic community.

The theologian underscored the need for Christian essentials such as love without ulterior motives, unity, kindness, peace, care for the needy, and hospitality to those who oppose them.  In his remarks, the Vice Chancellor of NOUN, Prof Olufemi Peters, stressed the need for inter-faith dialogue for peaceful coexistence.