Beware Of This Japa Scam -By Donu Kogbara

I clicked on the TikTok icon on my phone the other day; and the first video clip that came up on the screen featured an attractive Nigerian girl called Lollah Aluko advising compatriots to move to Lithuania, which she claims offers immigrants a better deal than Canada, the UK, the US, Germany and other destinations that are popular with the Japa crowd but difficult to access.

According to Lollah, who emits a sincere and persuasive vibe, you can move to Lithuania “for free” – as in get paid to relocate with your family and without a work permit. Furthermore, you won’t have any language problems because English is widely spoken and you can start to earn 3000 euros a month within weeks of your arrival.

Sounds like an amazing dream deal, doesn’t it?

But, as someone very cynical and extremely wise once said: If it sounds too good to be true, it is probably too good to be true!

I was suspicious, so I sent the video to my friend, His Excellency Shina Alege, the Nigerian Ambassador to Lithuania and other Baltic countries; and I asked him whether Lithuania is really so welcoming.

He was horrified, described the claims therein as “very very fake” and promised to debunk Lollah’s lies on the embassy website.

I’ve subsequently discovered that this type of scam video is very common on TikTok and other social media platforms.

There are similar claims made about Sweden, America, etc, by people who come across as plausible. And if you are desperate to escape from Nigeria’s multiple dysfunctions and embark on a new life in another part of the world, it is easy to fall into their clutches.

Some of these scammers are probably just 419 fraudsters who want to deceive gullible wannabe emigrants into parting with money for airline tickets, processing of official documents or whatever.

But I won’t be surprised if some are dangerous criminals – for example, traffickers who are looking for victims to sell into slavery abroad or killers who want to steal and sell body parts.

Nigeria is hard and getting harder (Rising cost of fuel, food, etc. Hardly any jobs for citizens who are not connected; and so on).

Nigeria is so hard that the last time I checked, nearly 100,000 people had expressed interest in Lollah’s video. And only God knows how many are taking other similar videos seriously.

But it’s better to struggle at home than to suffer or be murdered abroad; so people who want to run away should please be very careful indeed.

Moghalu for CBN!!!

In case President Tinubu wants my advice, he should make Kingsley Moghalu the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN.

Moghalu, a former Deputy CBN Governor and internationally acclaimed intellectual, political economist and public servant, is ideally qualified on several different levels and will do an excellent job.

Furthermore, appointing a South-Easterner (Moghalu is from Anambra) to such a key position will also prove that Tinubu is not the Igbophobic ethnic bigot many accuse him of being.

…More talk about appointments

I am Ogoni. I am very sad because my ethnic group has been treated extremely shabbily in Rivers State. We have been cruelly sidelined by successive governors, including Nyesom Wike, who is lobbying President Tinubu for our state’s ministerial slot…a slot I believe should go to Senator Magnus Abe, a highly accomplished Ogoni son who has been a Tinubu supporter for many years.

I am an Obidient and therefore not on the same political page as Magnus or another brother of mine, CHIEF (HON) KADILO KABARI (Director, Election Planning and Management, Rivers State Chapter of the Tinubu/Shettima Independent Campaign Council, ICC.

But I want to give Kabari space on this page today. His statement:

“Worried by the export of falsehood, ethnocentric bias and bigotry, hypocrisy and greed that has characterized the politics and polity in Rivers State now being brought to the centre by one Tony Okocha a serial betrayer, conflict entrepreneur and shameless apologist of the Former Governor of Rivers state, Chief Nyesom Wike, all in pursuit of a ministerial slot for his pay master. I am obliged to set the records straight via this media chat as follows

1. Give an insight into multisectoral and multipartisan support Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu had in Rivers State.

2. Condemn the entitlement mentality being canvassed by Tony Okocha in justifying his claim for Wike’s ministerial appointment.

3. Expose the hypocritical and pretentious nature of the said support of a structure that nurtured presidential and even vice presidential ambitions, found the Tinubu Presidency as a safe haven after losing out in all political equations, contributed nuisance value and surreptitiously seeking offices as cover and a war chest for the next elections.

4. X-ray the politically marginalized state of other ethnicities in Rivers state in view of previous and current occupation of political positions that negates the principles of fairness, equity, justice and turn by turn.

5. Condemn the campaign of calumny against Distinguished Senator Magnus Abe and other political actors while cautioning that pursuits should be personalized with honesty, capacity, merit, truth and fairness as yardsticks.

6. Reaffirm support for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and belief in his agelong talent selective prowess of the best hands in his cabinet which will no doubt prop up great leaders from Rivers State like Distinguished Senator Magnus Abe and many others.”

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