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A Nigerian tech entrepreneur, Iyinoluwa Aboyeji, has adduced reasons why Nigerian youths are protesting against the current economic hardship country.

The tech guru stated that despite the country’s economic hardship and skyrocketing inflation, many Nigerian youths have shunned protests because they comfortably earn Dollars and have their bills sorted.

This was disclosed by the co-founder of unicorn companies Andela and Flutterwave, on Inside Sources with Laolu Akande, a socio-political programme aired on Channels Television on Friday.

Aboyeji said, “Japa’ is the best thing that has happened to Nigeria. Because talents are now being exported — both physically and digitally — without some of these talents leaving the shores of Nigeria.

“Japa” is a colloquial word for the migration phenomenon of Nigerians to the rest of the world. It involves mostly the youth who are seeking greener pastures in foreign countries.

However, recall that In August, some aggrieved Nigerian youths trooped to the streets of major States capitals and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja to protest the economic hardship in the country. Another nationwide protest also took place on October 2024.

The protests organized under the banners of #EndBadGovernance protests and #FearlessInOctober demonstrations were against hunger and high energy costs.

The youths had demanded that the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration reinstate petrol subsidy and reverse the electricity tariff hike. The youths reasoned that the twin policies were responsible for the hike in energy costs and food insecurity.

But reacting to the agitations by the youths, Aboyeji stated that the current administration has no choice but to take those reforms.

He said, “What Tinubu has done right is to make energy prices what they actually are. It’s not about protesting. God bless the people protesting. But Abuja does not have the solution.”

According to Aboyeji, what Nigerians should be interested in are solutions to sustainable prosperity through human capital development.

“We must rejig our educational system and orient it towards export. People talk about ‘Japa’ as a bad thing. But it is the best thing that has happened to this country.

“We can make more; everybody should be incentivized to make more. We should go back to the university and say those doctors we lost, how can we produce more, and send them out. This is because there are a lot of young people who would not have jobs if these Japa people did not Japa. And many more young people are waiting for more people to Japa so that they can get jobs.

“So, if we really care for people in this country and we are not all about ourselves, we should be encouraging Japa. If you have talents, everybody is looking for you because the global workforce is ageing and our workforce is maturing.

“There are some people in the digital world who will Japa without leaving the country. There is a two-tier economy in Nigeria: those who earn in Dollars and those who earn in Naira. We refuse to acknowledge those who earn in Dollars. But in any case, they are the ones holding up our economy.

“If you wonder why people have not taken to the streets and brought down the president like other countries, it’s because of those people earning in Dollars, legitimately or illegitimately,” he said.

Speaking on the removal of petrol subsidy by President Tinubu, Aboyeji said the petrol subsidy regime bred wasteful citizens who fritter away energy resources. He, therefore, applauded the Tinubu’s administration for abolishing the petrol subsidy regime and multiple forex rates.

He said, “With energy cost, we are finally getting rid of a subsidy regime. Which means Nigerians have been extremely wasteful when it comes to their energy usage. We are a wasteful country; people put on lights; people drive SUVs like it is pure water.

“I am not a Minister so I can say this very boldly. We are a wasteful society. And now we are learning economics. It’s painful. Learning economics is not easy. I have apps in my house that are turning off my light. I am watching my bills per second on my phone. I’m thinking about changing my cars now because I can’t afford the gas-guzzling, it’s too much on me. I’m looking at changing my cars.”

Aboyeji also described the current economic situation of the country as a signal to the end of many empires and the beginning of new empires.

He said, “It is an opportunity for the youths if they have the right perspectives on it. “20 years from now, we will not be talking about the Dangotes.”

Aboyeji further added that what Nigerians hitherto called prosperity was fueling gargantuan amounts of debt and subsidy payments which he said was not sustainable.

“Before now, what we called prosperity is fueling incredible amount of debt and cheating our children. Because we are living in an unsustainable economy. An economy where 10 or 15 years ago, an entry-level of a bank could book a (flight) ticket to Paris. An economy where we weren’t paying the full price of energy, and the government was subsidizing consumption. That’s not sustainable.

“The minimum wage today is about $40 which means that a lot of jobs that our young people will not consider worth their time, especially in the digital economy, are now worth their time.

“Now, our exports are some of the cheapest in the world. And it makes sense to produce in Nigeria even with the high cost of energy because labour is very cheap,” he said.

 

source: Channels TV

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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