Dolapo Lawal has warned Nigerians against making relocation decisions based on unrealistic expectations, material pursuit and unhealthy comparisons, saying the obsession with moving abroad is pushing many people into choices they later regret. The Lead Pastor of Zoe Household Global delivered the warning during a Sunday sermon, where he criticised the growing fascination with migration popularly called Japa.
Lawal said many people are driven by false perceptions of instant success rather than informed judgment, and argued that covetousness often pushes them into life-altering decisions that do not produce the outcomes they expect. “It is covetousness that will make somebody sell their property in Nigeria and go to do a care job in America. Foolish thinking!” he said.
He said some Nigerians abandon stable lives and valuable assets at home in pursuit of opportunities abroad, only to meet harsh realities after arrival. He pointed to people who see others in the UK taking pictures and assume they are fine, then discover that the reality is harder than it looks. “Because you are seeing people in the UK taking pictures, you think they are okay? Now you go there, you are stranded there, and you cannot come back because of shame. Meanwhile, you are coveting that life. They will save money for 10 months to come and spend here,” he said.
The sermon landed in a country where Japa has become shorthand for emigrating from Nigeria, especially among younger professionals who see Britain and the United States as escape routes from economic pressure and uncertainty. In that context, Lawal’s remarks were framed as a rebuke to social-media-driven assumptions about life overseas, with repeated quotations focusing on the idea of selling property in Nigeria to take up low-paid work abroad.
He also questioned the payoff behind the migration rush, asking how many people had gone to the UK and become billionaires there. “Wake up! Gather money, gather money, I want to Japa. People do not Japa for ownership,” he said, drawing a sharp line between the dream of leaving and the reality many migrants face. His closing point was plain: the desire to leave should not be mistaken for a path to ownership, wealth or security.
The sermon has now been carried in reports across 2024, 2025 and 2026, each repeating the same core warning about Nigerians selling property at home to chase work abroad. That consistency underscores the message Lawal wanted heard on Sunday: for many people, the most dangerous part of Japa is not the journey itself, but the illusion that drives it.
