Please prepare yourself before you Japa, Nigerian Yorkshire Community Founder Warns

You should not take major life changes when you do not prepare for them. A serious topic for conversation that has been going around on social media is how a lot of Nigerians are moving and relocating to countries without preparation. As our parents will say, “anything worth doing is worth doing well”. The founder and President of the Nigerian Yorkshire Community Network (UK CIC), Mr Jayes Kolawole, in a released video, talked about proper planning for people planning their relocation from Nigeria to different parts of the world, especially the United Kingdom. The community network helps Nigerians with free food accommodation and jobs. The community also helps students, Nigerian families and businesses.

Mr Jayes Kolawole in this video released on his YouTube channel talks about how Nigerians are leaving Nigeria, leaving their jobs in life behind and moving to the UK without proper planning. He went ahead to talk about how the Japa culture is tearing families apart, people are leaving good jobs behind, and selling their properties to relocate without preparing.

Mr Kolawole went on to say that his community has been very hands-on with Nigerians relocating, helping with free food, free accommodation and more and because of this, he has seen a lot of Nigerians sell their properties and relocate to the United Kingdom on a tier 4 students visa. This means that either the wife or husband is a student and this would ensure that all family members of the student visa holder get a work visa too, he also went on to say that the dependents are limited in the kind of jobs that they are able to get and apply for.

He mentioned a survey and how the United Kingdom government has realised that for every person that gets a visa, they relocate with the entire family and how this process is going to be changing soon.

His advice;

The Community Is Advising Nigerian Families To Be Prepared.

Nigerians are moving their family of five on tier 4 student visas to the UK and do not prepare for all that they might face in a new country.

He speculated that the UK Government is making a lot of money off Nigerian citizens moving to the United Kingdom. The master’s students could be paying £14,000 to £17,000 and PhD students are getting charged £45,000 to £65,000. Yes, you get proper care for your children and can provide better care for your children, but you will struggle if you don’t properly plan and prepare. You’re only allowed to do support work for about 20 hours a week with the tier 4 students visa which means about £7 and at most £10 to £15 an hour. Accommodation cost has gone up, an example is a two bedroom in Leeds going out for £700 to £800.

Do Your Research

He is advising Nigerians to research and talk to people. That is one way they can prepare. Find out how much you will need for the basic things that you will need including food, accommodation, education, landlords and more before making your move. He also offered the community’s help and says people who want to migrate can give them a call, go on to their website and also send them a message on Twitter or Instagram. Their community is ready to help 

Appeal To The Nigerian High Commission In London 

Mr Kolawole is appealing to the Nigerian High Commission in London, Ministry of Information, Abike Dabiri for notification to be put out for Nigerians that are migrating to the UK. For more information to be made available and for their interest to be protected for their well-being.  

Don’t Get Ripped Off By Landlords 

Another piece of advice from him for those that are migrating to the United Kindom is to not get ripped off and cheated by the landlords over there as some Nigerians pay money to the landlord ahead of time before moving to the United Kingdom and get the shorter end of the deal with houses that are shabby.

Be financially stable 

He advised that you should make sound financial plans and have enough that would tide the people migrating for at least 3 months before they get a job. You have to consider every aspect, consider that things are not free, think about how to take care of your children if you are coming with children, how to feed yourself and your dependant, paying for groceries, paying for babysitters, or if you won’t be paying for babysitters knowing that either you or your spouse will have to be available and responsible for taking care of the children to prevent a visit from social security which would lead to more problems.

Credit to Mr Kolawole Jayes

You can also read more on other factors to consider while moving to a new country from this article. Sometimes we might wish we can breeze through life but it really does not work like that. You need to make plans, take things into consideration, make concessions and also learn to compromise. Do not allow desperation and the situation of things in the country to push you to make a migration mistake that will not serve you well in the future. Take your time to plan well and make the best choices for you and your future.