Causal Agent of “Japa Syndrome”: Nigerian Youths in Search if Human Security

Abstract

Nigeria is lacking on most of the indices of governance let alonegood governance since independence. Indeed the connection drawnbetween pursuing constitutional government and observing thisgovernance yardstick when measured in the last ten years of civilrule falls short of the ideals. Not only is the public service inefficient,it has been tampered with and politicized in the last ten years makingit inefficient and bureaucratic; the judiciary is all but independentand in the years 1999 to 2007, it reached its lowest ebb in terms ofenforcement of decisions while the framework for enforcing contracthas been politicized; the country has ranked high in corruption inthe administration of public funds as demonstrated by the power(Ajiboye, 2011 cited in Onoja, 2013); pension and oil subsidy probesand her consistent rating on Transparency International’s corruptionperception index (Corruption Perception Index, 2011); the absenceof an independent auditor and a less corrupt legislature since 1999facilitates the perpetration of act of corruption that has impoverishedthe citizens while the press has remained relatively free even as itpursues it own agenda. The tendencies of regimes to set agendaand goals for meeting the expectation of the citizens for developmentis itself part of the corruption of the system. This enhances insecurityas it destroys the tenuous faith of the people in governance.