Adesina, who said this on a Channels Television programme, claimed that the average Nigerian has always wanted to leave the country, adding that people should not equate it to something being wrong with governance in the West African nation.
The Special Adviser to President Muhammadu Buhari on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina on Sunday said Nigerians should leave the country if they believe it is good for them.
Adesina, who said this on a Channels Television programme, claimed that the average Nigerian has always wanted to leave the country, adding that people should not equate it to something being wrong with governance in the West African nation.
He said, “The average Nigerian had always wanted to leave. And it is not just in Nigeria. It is in most countries of the world, particularly in the third world.
“They always believe that it is greener on the other side. You see, the truth is that if you have an opportunity to better yourself in any part of the world, there is nothing wrong with it. If you think migrating legally is good for you, all well and good. By all means, go!”
Meanwhile, according to the 2021 Nigeria Social Cohesion Survey, published by Africa Polling Institute (API), more than 7 in 10 Nigerians (73%) say they would relocate abroad with family members if given the opportunity.
This represents a massive 41 percentage point increase from citizens hoping to emigrate in 2019, when only about a third of citizens (32%) said they were willing to relocate with their families out of Nigeria.
This could be related to the significant decline in citizens' trust in President Muhammadu Buhari's government, as only about 26% said they had "a lot of trust and some trust" in President Buhari, compared to 42% in 2019.
Trust in the judicial system is 26% (down from 32% in 2019), and 22% in both the National Assembly (down from 33% in 2019) and the Nigerian police.
In turn, the survey discovered that citizens have more trust in religious leaders (55%) and traditional leaders (45%).
Nonetheless, 59% of Nigerians feel that the country's future would be brighter this year. However, this is a decrease from 66% in 2019.
Similarly, more citizens believe that Nigeria's future will be much worse than it is now, rising from 15% in 2019 to 27% in 2021.
However, President Buhari’s aide stated that the high rate of people leaving the country should not be used as a measure to determine the performance of the government.
He continued: “But you cannot now say that because people are leaving, then it is a sign that something is fundamentally wrong. There are Nigerians who would never leave the country no matter how things are.”
Also, Adesina spoke about the country’s security, adding that President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration would hand over a safer country to his successor in 2023.
“No doubt about it. He would leave a safer country. When he came in 2015, you could not be sure Nigeria would exist in the next one month. As of 2015, what was happening was that nobody could confidently say that Nigeria would be on the map in the following next week, month or year. But we saw that he came and took the battle to the insurgency.
“When he came, the insurgency was the main thing and he took the battle to them. Then, it became hydra-headed – banditry, kidnapping for ransom, cultism, and separatist agitations joined. How many challenges can one administration really confront? That’s the issue with the Buhari administration. From day one till now, it was from one challenge to the other,” he added.