“Italy is better than Nigeria, but I have been a beggar here in Italy for the last nine years. I have built a house in Nigeria and I take care of my kids and family very well.”
That statement from a Nigerian man living in Italy captures an uncomfortable truth about migration: a country can offer better institutions and living conditions while an individual migrant can still experience poverty, exclusion and economic failure within it.
It also challenges one of the most persistent assumptions surrounding migration from Africa to Europe—that reaching Europe automatically means escaping poverty.
It doesn't.
Europe is not automatically prosperity
For many Nigerians, Europe exists in the imagination as the opposite of Nigeria.
Better infrastructure.
More reliable public services.
Stronger currencies.
Higher wages.
Greater access to healthcare and social protection.
Those advantages are real in many respects.
But migration does not distribute those advantages equally.
A Nigerian arriving in Italy without professional qualifications, legal work opportunities, language proficiency, a strong social network or access to stable employment can find himself at the bottom of the economic ladder.
And the bottom of the European economic ladder can still be extremely difficult.
That is what makes the man's statement so revealing.
He apparently regards Italy as a better country than Nigeria.
Yet his own economic survival has depended on begging.
The house in Nigeria tells another story
The most striking part of his statement may actually be the second half:
“I have built a house in Nigeria and I take care of my kids and family very well.”
That sentence exposes the economics of migration that statistics often miss.
The migrant's personal living conditions in Europe and his family's economic position in Nigeria can be completely different.
Someone may sleep poorly in Europe, perform precarious work or even beg on the streets while sending money home that finances:
- housing;
- children's education;
- food;
- healthcare;
- family businesses;
- land purchases;
- construction.
The migrant becomes an economic bridge between two countries.
His life in Europe may look unsuccessful from one perspective.
But his remittances may represent enormous economic value to his family in Nigeria.
The currency advantage changes everything
This is one of the most important dynamics behind African migration.
Money earned in euros and converted into naira can have substantially greater purchasing power for a family in Nigeria.
A relatively modest amount by Italian standards can therefore finance expenses that would require considerably more effort to cover locally in Nigeria.
That is why some migrants endure extraordinarily difficult circumstances abroad.
They are not necessarily pursuing a luxurious European lifestyle.
They may be pursuing a Nigerian financial objective using European purchasing power.
A house in Nigeria becomes the tangible symbol of that strategy.
But there is a dangerous lesson here
The story should not be romanticised.
There is nothing inherently admirable about spending nine years begging.
Nor should anyone interpret the story as proof that Europe is secretly worse than Nigeria.
Both conclusions would miss the point.
The man's experience is his experience.
Italy can simultaneously provide stronger public infrastructure and institutions than Nigeria while containing migrants who live in severe economic hardship.
Those realities are not contradictory.
A country's overall standard of living does not guarantee that every immigrant will prosper there.
The myth of “once you reach Europe, you have made it”
This is where Nigerian migration culture needs a serious conversation.
Young Nigerians sometimes hear stories about someone who travelled to Europe and immediately imagine success.
The photograph beside a European landmark becomes the evidence.
The foreign phone becomes the evidence.
Money sent home becomes the evidence.
But the camera does not show everything.
It doesn't show the cramped accommodation.
It doesn't show immigration uncertainty.
It doesn't show unemployment.
It doesn't show loneliness.
It doesn't show discrimination.
It doesn't show debt accumulated to finance the journey.
It doesn't show the psychological pressure of being expected to constantly send money home.
And it certainly doesn't show the possibility of spending years in Europe without establishing a stable career.
The Nigerian man in Italy has effectively provided the missing photograph.
A person can live in Europe and still be poor.
And yet, why stay?
That is perhaps the most interesting question.
If someone has spent nine years begging, why not return?
Because migration decisions are rarely based on a single calculation.
There may be family obligations.
There may be accumulated assets in Nigeria.
There may be immigration considerations.
There may be hopes of eventually obtaining stable employment.
There may be social pressure.
There may also simply be the calculation that, despite the hardship, remaining in Europe provides some economic advantage over returning home.
Migration is often not:
“Europe is wonderful.”
It is:
“This difficult situation is still better for my particular objectives than the alternative.”
That distinction is crucial.
The story also says something about Nigeria
It would be easy to turn this into another argument about Nigerians leaving the country.
But the deeper question is why someone would accept nine years of begging thousands of kilometres away from home.
The answer inevitably leads back to Nigeria's economic structure.
When people believe that their chances of building a secure future are better abroad—even under extraordinarily difficult circumstances—migration becomes rational from their perspective.
That should concern Nigeria.
A country should want its citizens to travel because they want to explore, study, work or build international careers.
It should not want them to conclude that begging in another country is preferable to building a life at home.
But the man's story also contains an important success
There is one part of the statement that should not be overlooked.
He says he has built a house and supported his children and family.
Whatever his personal circumstances in Italy, he has apparently converted years abroad into tangible assets and family support in Nigeria.
That is one reason the Nigerian diaspora matters economically.
Migrants do not merely consume abroad.
They send money home, build houses, educate relatives, finance businesses and support communities.
The sacrifice of one person abroad can materially change the lives of people who remain in Nigeria.
But that doesn't mean the sacrifice should be celebrated blindly.
The uncomfortable conclusion
The story is neither proof that Italy is worse than Nigeria nor proof that migration is the guaranteed route to success.
It demonstrates something more complicated.
A better country does not automatically produce a better individual outcome.
A migrant without economic opportunity can remain poor in a rich country.
At the same time, the income and opportunities available in that richer country—even when accessed through precarious means—can still transform the migrant's family back home.
That is the paradox.
The man says Italy is better than Nigeria.
Yet he has spent nine years begging there.
And he has nevertheless managed to build a house in Nigeria and support his family.
That single story should force a more mature conversation about migration.
Don't sell young Nigerians the fantasy that Europe is a paradise.
But don't pretend that people leave Nigeria simply because they hate their country either.
Many are making a brutally practical calculation:
Where can my labour, however difficult to obtain, produce the future I want for myself and my family?
Until Nigeria becomes a place where more people can answer that question confidently at home, stories like this one will continue to resonate.
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