Bwala: Japa Not Better Than Staying in Nigeria

A senior aide to President Bola Tinubu has stirred fresh debate over the japa wave, arguing that many Nigerians who relocated to the United Kingdom in search of a better life are, in real terms, struggling more than counterparts who stayed behind on far smaller incomes. The claim, made by the Special Adviser to the President on Policy Communication, Daniel Bwala, has landed at a moment when emigration remains one of the country’s most emotive economic subjects.

Bwala, who described himself as a resident of the United Kingdom, made the comments during an appearance on The Morayo Show, which aired on Wednesday. He was responding to an audience member, Moyo Alabi, who spoke about the dense crowds at a Visa Facilitation Services centre in the Ikeja area of Lagos and asked what the Federal Government was doing about emigration fuelled by poverty, insecurity and unemployment.

Breaking down the figures, Bwala said the typical Nigerian doing a job in Britain earns roughly £2,600 to £2,800 a month, but that most of it disappears into fixed costs. “When they go there and do a job, on average they earn about £2,600 or £2,800 a month. 2,450 goes off. You pay power, internet, TV, rent. When you put them together, rent alone is about 800,” he said, adding that this held true even for those living on the outskirts of London.

He tied that squeeze to distressing reports of Nigerians dying on the streets of the British capital. “At the end of the day, what you are left with is not much. So you are forced to do two, three jobs. That’s why recently you are seeing in London, they say somebody died by the roadside,” he said.

Comparing that worker with someone earning ₦60,000 at home, Bwala argued the difference in social cushioning was decisive. “So now, I will compare that person with a Nigerian here that is collecting 60,000. That person is farther than you,” he said, noting that relatives and friends often step in with support in Nigeria, and that residents pay little for many basic social services. He conceded, however, that the trade off was the inability to easily afford a house or a car.

The figures invite context. At prevailing exchange rates of about ₦1,540 to the dollar, £2,600 converts to roughly ₦5.4 million a month, many times Nigeria’s ₦70,000 national minimum wage, which has stood unchanged since the National Minimum Wage Act was signed in July 2024. Bwala’s ₦60,000 example actually sits below that legal floor, a reminder that enforcement remains patchy across the 36 states, with Lagos paying ₦85,000 while several northern states have struggled to meet the minimum at all.

Bwala went further on the nature of the jobs many migrants take, describing them as demeaning relative to their qualifications. “A Nigerian that finished with first class or second class, now moves to the UK and then adds another degree. You know the majority of them where they are working? Care homes,” he said, calling such work “modern-day slavery.” He recounted an account of a friend who took a second job in a warehouse and found fellow Nigerian professionals, including PhD and master’s holders, working under a supervisor without a secondary school certificate.

He used the platform to defend the administration’s social interventions, citing a 50 per cent subsidy on dialysis in federal hospitals and free Caesarean section services in public facilities, while acknowledging that extending such support to private hospitals and prescription drugs remained constrained by resources.

The remarks feed into a long running national conversation. Migration pressure has intensified amid inflation that stood at 15.93 per cent in May 2026 and a naira that weakened sharply after the 2023 float, developments that have pushed thousands of skilled professionals abroad even as the government insists reforms are beginning to bear fruit.