Immigration anxiety...
Towards the end of last year, I found myself in a very tight spot. I was anxious and uneasy and I found a solution but I desperately needed to communicate it with the people who were involved in the solution.
Luckily for me, my brother (who was part of the solution) called me and we got talking. Then I told him my fear. Turned out he had exactly the same fear. My solution was sensible but the general solution was to reduce the pressure because life still goes on.
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Immigrating has always been a dream of ours and just like almost every Nigerian we had placed 2023 as our deadline and trying to sort out our finances to be able to get the process done has been tough on all of us.
During my French course, my classmates refused to understand when I told them that I thought it was unwise to immigrate on such a tight budget. It would be uncomfortable and unwise. None of them is currently suffering here in Nigeria and then they'd leave the country in search of greener pastures just to live uncomfortably until they can find even half the comfort they have here.
The truth is, Nigeria is not a healthy country to live in. It's as toxic as toxic can be. However, the kind of ease we find here is difficult to find in a different country.
Nigeria makes casual living possible. You could build or buy a house and not bother about paying mortgage, own a car without paying bills on the car, get a phone and not pay cell phone charges and all those other random bills and taxes we see people pay in Hollywood movies.
Asides from these life expenses, the Nigerian naira is shit. Earning in a foreign currency, like the US Dollar, and then spending here easily places you among the privileged few. It's one of the reasons why I can shamelessly have a budget of $100 for a month because that's what some families manage for an entire month.
Over here, in some parts of the country, you could find a studio apartment where you'd pay $100 for an entire year. I mean I've searched for accommodation in some of the notable cheapest parts of the world and you'd hardly find an apartment for even $100 a month.
Nigeria makes things easy. Living here can be easy. But our sick government and absurd politics irks the entire youthful population to crave a harder, less comfortable but more sane environment.
I still want to immigrate. I still will. However, life goes on after 2022 and 2023. The major fear in the country happens to be the Presidential elections of 2023 but with the right budget, I don't see why I and my siblings can't travel for 6 months to a different country and return after that event's over.
My final fear is my lack of global relevance skills. My current skillset are very ordinary. They place me in the rat race and don't exactly give me enough leverage among the masses.
Right now, the people with the best chances at having a better life in a different country are people with global relevance skills. This isn't to say that they don't suffer fro a while, but they have their skills to help them stay afloat.
I'm referring to bad ass software engineers like my friend who moved to Kenya last year and landed himself a remote job in the UK in barely a month of living there. Or doctors who are always needed in different countries.
The terrible medical situation in Nigeria makes our doctors sought out for, apparently. Their ability to save lives in these substandard situations makes them very resourceful when they leave.
Over here these 2 professions aren't treated with enough respect. Hence why they're a huge part of the braindrain taking place already.
I don't possess any of these skills so I would be fooling myself if I thought immigrating would be as easy for me as it is for them. They have a lot on their side.
In Dollars, I don't earn so much. However, like I've said many times, I'm a whole lot better off than a lot of my friends in Nigeria and I don't even work half as hard as they do. It's all about the Dollar factor. That's why for every HBD I earn I'm grateful. I know how much of a big deal it is to have $1 of your own in these parts.
I saw a house recently. It was more like a mansion. And they said I could get it for N10 million. That was the first price without negotiating and that's about $20,000. I mean this house has 10 bedrooms, 10 bathrooms, huge livingrooms, a large kitchen, a massive garden and a lot of other specs. And it was up for grabs at $20,000!!! Located in one of the best places in town.
I'm sure as hell that I wouldn't be able to afford that if I relocated to Canada or some of my favorite places in the world.
Yet, I'm willing to let go of that much luxury just to getby in a better country because my country's terrible situation makes it so. It's so sad when I think about it.
Anyways, the conclusion to all this is that I still want to leave Nigeria but not with the state of my finances right now. I would be digging my own grave if I did that. Rigth now I'm considerably wealthy amongst my peers but if I leave this country as it is, I would be extremely poor in a different country. I don't have the right skillset to handle all that just yet.
Thanks for reading, even if you didn't, thank you still!!!
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Rather be a lion I'm the jungle than be a dog in the city.
Almost everyone is planning that at one point he/she is going to flee from this corrupt country but most times things didn't workout well due to alot of reasons.
There was a time that the urge of going abroad was very high and i was really getting depressed because of it, after giving it much thinking I now realize that, the peace of mind that comes with being able to eat what I want when I want sometimes is greater than me trying to flee the country due to the ups ad downs we face at one point here in Nigeria.
Until I'm financially comfortable to live abroad I don't think I'm leaving here anytime soon.
The little we have is still manageable here than going to foreign country where the bill is too high.
Alot of people over there are busting their as*s everyday to pay bills and having just little to save up for other things, you can't neglect the privilege that other cool counties offers but it's very different for everyone and depends on how long you think you can survive over there compared to staying here in Nigeria.
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Everybody want to leave this country forgetting that people outside their sacrifice to make their country great but we are not even ready to do anything for our own country which is bad, we just wanna leave and never to come back again
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This was my childhood dream back then 😂 even my dad dey motivate me join.
The things is as you've explained, if the country is bad, we all can keep changing ourselves from within to make it better, nah man dey rule man now. For me oo this place we die there, I'm not leaving it for anyone but abroad cruise dey too but just for a limited period of time.
If most politicians were building companies and investing here, things would be different a little, we younger ones also shouldn't follow in that foot step but I guess it's different for everyone.
Yes that’s true, most people don’t care at all as if this country is a mistake
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If you see how Nigerians are suffering in these countries all in the name of "greener pastures" you'll just hustle and stay here peacefully. Coz you'd wonder if it's worth it. Not many jobs here that pay a lot offer the kind of skills that are worthy of attention in other countries.
It's just escaping one rat race to find yourself in another one.
It may be possible in the future to live entirely off of crypto, no matter where in the world, thus I wouldn't bother much about skills. I am skill-less and managed to live in two different countries, talking two different languages.
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I think where you come from plays a major role too. We could both be skill-less but you'd be given a higher preference before me because they don't trust my education in the first place. There's so much about where I come from that leads to a lot of distrust so yeah, I might turn out to be a liability due to my country and the baggage that comes with it. It's a sad reality.
This post just mirrored my exact fears. I’ve always wanted to leave the country desperately, looking for every possible means but I’ve come to realize that, the grass is greener when you water the grass so I’m putting that same passion into making life a tad bit easier here for as long as I’ll be here
You have no other choice. Having the goal to immigrate isn't bad but having the proper path is extremely important if not you'll just keep suffering until you get that big break. And suffering in a country that isn't yours is very HARD! You are in your own coz relatives at home ain't get it. It's believed that once you go abroad you've made it in life so nobody will help you.
I would love to stay in Nigeria if I am earning well but the safety issue here is pretty bad and the constant fear of what might happen isn't it.
As long as you can find the means to survive and you don't mind suffering briefly, go for it.
Omo make una no go hook for there o incase they do Nigeria to state of emergency con shut borders. Lol. Godforbid sha
I get your fears. I have similar too.
Hive at 50$ and all these fears will be non existent.
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Hive at $50 will probably take a while. And definitely, with that sort of daily income coming in I could survive anywhere in the world.
Fascinating... I'm so intrigued with Nigeria. So much good and bad (I suppose like the rest of the world too) but that is the one thing that is consistent with almost all Nigerians I speak to - how they want to leave because of the corruption.
But I've never heard about what you're talking about... buying a house and not paying mortgage? or getting a cell phone and not paying bills? hehehe why is this?
And WOW -if you have a link to that house???? with the 10 bedrooms? hehehe I want to see it!!! LOL
Show me if you can?? :)
Based on where I am, I don't think I can find a link on that house because it was a word of mouth sale. Yup, I could just talk to the owner, exchange funds and the house would be legally mine. But I'll find a credible link to homes in Nigeria because I'm certain there are cheap houses that would blow your mind if you did the Dollar conversion.
We don't pay the mortgage or any fee on our houses. Although recently they tried to enforce a land rent on the property my parents bought about 23 years ago but the charge is $20 per year and even then it wasn't properly enforced so they don't pay it.
As for cell phone bills 😆... No, I can't explain why we'd pay it because I honestly don't understand why it's paid in the first place. Although the price of our internet access is quite highh but there's always a way around it and sometimes our service can be really poor but as always, there's a way around That too. It can be stressful though.
But yeah, in general, we don't have to pay a lot of taxes or any tax sometimes. Asides from power bills every month and maybe community security, there's barely anything else that's mandatory for people to pay.
Asides from these conveniences, the inconveniences are many as well. But we'll focus on just the good for now.
well for us... if we don't pay the cell phone service - they shut off our service hahahahaha
we have to pay month to month for the ability to use the call provider and internet data.
once we pay, we are ensured coverage hahahahaha
so you don't pay mortgages - but I think that's because you buy the house fully?
See - for us, the house is too expensive for us to buy fully. We have to take out a loan from the bank to buy the house.
Usually the loans are either paid back in 15,20 or 30 years
but the average American salary is about $50k a year.
the average American house in the US is about $400k
It is rare that a person can buy a house without a loan. Unless they are saving up every penny for 8 years, living with their family rent-free.... it's almost impossible for them to save up to buy a house with cash saved.
So we take out a loan from the bank for $400k (or the price of our house) and then we pay back the bank over the next 15-30 years.
When we are done paying interest on the loan and all of that? it is usually paying back almost 3 times the amount!!! outrageous!!!
but if we don't pay the bank every month? They will foreclose on our house and then sell our house from under us. LOL
and then yes... taxes on the land and all of that too hahahahahaha
I guess that happens here but I've never heard of a house loan being paid for up to 30 years. That's crazy...
Where I live is quite underdeveloped so most people buy lands and build their houses from scratch. In other parts, they buy already built houses and pay up for a while but not that many years. I believe the longest I've heard of is 10 years.
And most times it's not the banks in charge of these charges, it's usually co-operations and certain agencies. But I guess the result is the same.
With cell phones, once you have your mobile phone, what you do with it is absolutely your business. There are no charges asides from personal expenses for airtime and data. I think this is a lot easier.
hehehe yes that is the norm here - they even have 40 year mortgages now!!!
can you imagine?!?!?! lol
Last year we were actually looking to buy land and build our house from scratch also. but we took a different thought this year - due to .. well, due to many things hehehe
for the cell phones - I think maybe its the same thing - we own our phones. (well i do. some people choose to buy the phone over time and it takes 2 years to pay it off hahaha)
but i buy my phone and just like you - it belongs to me.
but in order to have service I have to pay for it. I think that's where our countries differ. Our service we choose to get through a monthly commitment - but your service is as needed.
I used to have one like that too! hehehe but I didn't use my phone often. Now, becuase I use it more often - the companies give you special deals if you sign up through them. That's how they get you to choose them hehehe
i love getting the inside peek between our cultures through our conversations!
I find the differences so interesting. I think even the UK has a different matter with housing and phone charges.
My sister and her husband were able to pay up their mortgage in about 3 years. And it was a cosy house in a pretty standard area.
As for cell phone charges, when my mom and I visited a couple of years back, my sister got us on a plan that was much like what we're used to in Nigeria. So I guess it's just different service providers and their different plans.