50% of Nigerians Want To Move Out Of The Country— World Bank

About 50 percent of the Nigerian populace are willing to move out of the country to seek greener pastures,an increase of nearly 20% since 2014.

The World Bank revealed this in its report titled, "Of Roads Less Travelled: Assessing the Potential for Migration to Provide Overseas Jobs for Nigeria’s Youth," published on its website this week.

According to the report, Nigeria was the West African country with the third-highest number of responders willing to move permanently out of the country, behind only  Liberia (70%) and Sierra Leone (60%). Close neighbour Niger was the least ranked with 10%.

The World Bank added that young Nigerians were increasingly opting for irregular migration routes to realize their hopes for a better life. “With rising migratory pressures created by poor employment conditions, Nigerians are increasingly choosing to migrate through irregular means,” the Bank stated.

It also added that Nigerians represented the largest group of migrants from Sub-Saharan Africa arriving in Europe in 2016 and 2017 as nearly 40,000 Nigerians arrived in Italy in 2016 with over 90% of those arriving via sea routes.

“A larger share of Nigerian migrants arriving in Italy were women (32%) compared to migrants from the rest of SSA (24%),” the Washington-based bank stated.

It also revealed that while the number of asylum seekers from Nigeria has declined in recent years, this does not translate as decreased demand for migration from Nigeria. The drop in migration levels from Nigeria and other Sub-Saharan African countries to Europe is a result of tighter border control policies supported by the EU in transit countries such as Libya and Niger.

“However, the underlying economic and demographic factors that create migratory pressures are unlikely to subside in the near future, with other potential irregular routes being reported through Sudan and Chad to Libya,” the Bretton Woods institution added.