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Paper short abstract:

This paper interrogates youth migration from the perspectives of ‘serve me breakfast’ (disappointment and inability to navigate difficult situations), and japa (fleeing unprofitable environment or a failing state). It discusses the implications and what should be done to halt this horrendous trend.

Paper long abstract:

Although the migration of young people to developed countries has been in existence before 2000, the trend seems to have taken a new turn in the preceding decades, especially in the 2020s. The present wave of youth migration for greener pastures are now being characterised by two street slang, ‘serve me breakfast’ and japa. While ‘serve me breakfast’ connotes the inability to get through difficult situations, or disappointment from government, groups/bodies or individuals who should have delivered on certain promises but failed, japa implies escaping from a disappointing environment, people and a failing society. Using the Nigerian State, this paper seeks to explore some aspects of ‘serve me breakfast’ within the country,  and how this underlines the japa syndrome. It interrogates the nature and/or patterns of japa among young people. While establishing the nexus between ‘serve me breakfast’ and japa, this paper discusses the implications of these phenomena for the development of human capital and the nation as a whole. It highlights plausible blueprints that will contain the transcontinental movement of young people. It adopts both primary and secondary sources of data collection. Also, randomly selected respondents will be interviewed to elicit necessary information in order to corroborate other data. This paper anchors on the relative deprivation theory of migration. It is historical, descriptive and analytical in its presentation.

Keywords: ‘serve me breakfast,’ japa, human capital, sustainable development, Nigerian youth