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"Your Biggest Dream Should Be to Leave Nigeria" — Skales Sparks National Debate After Urging Youths to Japa, Draws Fierce Backlash
Afrobeats singer Skales has drawn fierce debate after telling Nigerian youths their biggest dream should be to leave the country.
Afrobeats singer Raoul John Njeng-Njeng, popularly known as Skales, has ignited a nationwide firestorm after declaring that the most important aspiration of any young Nigerian should be to emigrate. In a series of posts on his X handle this week, the "Shake Body" hitmaker wrote: "As a young Nigerian, your biggest dream should be to leave Nigeria so you can survive and actually achieve your dream by at least staying alive." He went further to cite the country's worsening insecurity as another critical reason for youths to pursue the "Japa" agenda, painting a grim picture of a nation where ambition and safety are increasingly incompatible.
The comments, which arrived amid a grinding cost-of-living crisis and a wave of high-profile emigration by young professionals, touched a raw national nerve. Within hours, the hashtag #Skales trended as Nigerians split into two warring camps. Supporters of the singer argued he was simply stating an uncomfortable truth — that the structural failures of the Nigerian state, from rampant insecurity to economic despair, make emigration a rational survival strategy. "He didn't say don't love Nigeria. He said stay alive. What's the argument?" one user posted. But critics accused Skales of irresponsibility, arguing that a public figure of his stature should be urging youths to hold leaders accountable rather than encouraging an exodus. "This is the same country that gave him a platform. Now he's telling the next generation to run away instead of fighting to fix it," a widely shared rebuttal read.
The controversy underscores a broader cultural clash over the "Japa" phenomenon, which has seen record numbers of skilled Nigerians — from doctors to tech workers — leave the country in recent years. For many, Skales' words are not a call to abandon Nigeria but a reflection of a dispiriting reality that the government has been unable to reverse. For others, they represent a dangerous surrender. The singer has not walked back his statement, and the debate he has sparked shows no sign of cooling — a testament to how deeply the question of leaving or staying now defines the Nigerian experience.
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