To Leave Nigeria Or To Stay

I am in between deciding to emigrate or stay. The entire interest started two weeks ago. Maybe the #EndSARS events triggered it. I was very unhappy with how our government officials lie, deceive us and hold what was meant for them to just share as palliatives. No truth, no shame. The "no army", the "no shooting", the "Ikoyi court burning to bury a case" etc all made me feel like it was time to have another option of where to be even if I still run my business here.

image: finglobal.com

I  tried engaging immigration consultants online: https://migrategroup.com/ and https://www.canadavisa.com/

MigrateGroup were very helpful and did a comprehensive free evaluation of my options. They did a profiling of my biodata, career and qualifications. We went through the options of emigrating to USA, UK, Canada, Australia, Spain, Germany and New Zealand. It became obvious that Canada was going to be the easiest and shortest to gaining a permanent residency and second citizenship.

CanadaVisa.com were dodgy and seemed only interested in getting more money from me after I paid a $19.99 for an evaluation only for them to tell that I need to pay another $500 to get the evaluation. I felt like walking into a trap. So I told them to keep the $19.99, I was no longer interested in their service. 

Then after reading a lot of people's experiences of migrating to Canada (https://www.quora.com/There-are-so-many-negative-stories-about-people-s-experiences-after-migrating-to-Canada-and-obtaining-permanent-residency-Are-there-any-positive-stories-out-there-Is-it-really-a-bad-idea-to-migrate-to-Canada, https://www.quora.com/What-has-been-your-experience-migrating-to-Canada and https://www.quora.com/Do-you-regret-moving-to-Canada), I decided to quit the Canada option.

In fact, I decided to quit the whole emigration idea. That was a week ago.

Then this week, the fever restarted. And it was UK this time. I got some motivations from friends to emigrate to UK. Thankfully, I am aware of the UK TechNation Visa programme (UK Global Talent Visa programme). It seemed straightforward and I think I stand some chance of getting it.

Still I see no immediate necessity for emigrating. But looking at the direction of things and the shameful way government is handling everything, I feel sure that things will relatively (to UK and Canada) get worse in Nigeria and I might be back to considering this same emigration in 10 years time. So I concluded that it is better to just do it now and not ever get to a future that I start wishing I had do it earlier.

What do you think?

I am currently considering applying by myself (no consultant's paid help) for UK Global Talent Visa and Canada Express Entry. Ensure that I take my wife along (which both programmes allow at an additional cost).

I will also find a way to keep running my business here. Luckily, my team are a bit more able to work without my supervision/intervention.