Japa

Japa is Nigerian slang for leaving the country for work, study or safety. Borrowed from the Yoruba jà pa (“to run, to escape”), it has come to name the wave of departures since the early 2020s, and the decisions and pressures around them. Leaving is a loss as well as a gain, for those who go and those who stay.

Also called: relocating; moving abroad; the japa wave. It’s also used as a verb: “she has japa’d”.

We’ve written about each stage: japa stress before and after the move, settling in abroad and coming home.

The emotional cost of leaving

For those who go

Even people who badly wanted to go grieve what they left: friendships, status, family nearby, church or mosque, familiar food, and the ease of being understood without explaining yourself. A downgraded job title and an empty social calendar are common in the first year, and often unexpected. Psychiatrists call part of this cultural bereavement: losing the customs, faith and support that held you up, while your sense of who you are shifts.

Adjustment difficulties, low mood and anxiety are common in the first months abroad. They sometimes arrive only after the paperwork and the housing are settled, when there’s finally time to feel it. Guilt and obligation travel too. Earning in a stronger currency usually raises what family expects at home (see black tax).

For those who stay

Parents whose children have all left, partners in long-distance marriages, and colleagues absorbing the work of everyone who resigned all feel it. In many Nigerian families, children are expected to care for their parents in old age, so a child leaving can bring worry on both sides; our guide to leaving your parents behind covers setting up care. The partner left behind often carries the family duties and the questions about when they’ll join (see long-distance love after japa).

Coming back

Returning has its own strain. Home has changed, you have changed, and some people feel their return is read as failure, though most returns are decisions, not failures.

How therapy helps

A therapist can’t make the decision for you or fix a visa, but the grief, the guilt, the loneliness and the hard conversations about money and duty are all workable. Before you go, it can help you set realistic expectations and agree with family what you can and can’t do.

Many people keep working with a Nigerian therapist after moving, because the context doesn’t have to be explained first. Time zones and local licensing rules affect who can see you and how, so ask before you go. On Mytherapist.ng you can book by video, voice or chat, and you can look for a therapist who speaks your language.

In Nigeria

In a 2023 analysis of Afrobarometer survey data from 1,600 Nigerian adults, about 35% said they intended to emigrate: 30% in the north and 40% in the south, highest in the south-east. The one who leaves often carries the family’s hopes and money expectations, and the pressure to be seen to “make it”. Saying you’re struggling can then feel like ingratitude, so many people say nothing. Little research measures how japa affects mental health in Nigeria.

Japa stress vs adjustment disorder and depression

“Japa stress” isn’t a diagnosis. Feeling unsettled, homesick and low for a while after a move is a normal reaction. When the reaction takes over your thoughts and makes it hard to function, usually starting within a month of the change, a clinician may call it an adjustment disorder. It usually eases as support arrives and coping improves. WHO’s diagnostic manual notes that losing family and community support can make it worse for people from cultures built around them. Low mood or loss of interest most of the day, nearly every day, for two weeks or more may be depression.

When to get help

Talk to someone if low mood, anxiety or loneliness hasn’t eased after a few months, or is affecting your work, sleep or relationships, whether you’re the one who left or the one left behind. You can book a licensed therapist on Mytherapist.ng for general mental health and wellbeing, or couples counselling if distance is straining your relationship. If it has reached hopelessness or thoughts of ending your life, call 112 (or 767 in Lagos), or Safe Place Nigeria on 0800 800 2000. The full list is on our helplines page. If you’re outside Nigeria, call the local emergency number.