Nigerians Spent More Than N5 Trillion on Foreign Education

As Nigerians flocked to different countries abroad for tertiary education, more than N5 trillion has been expended on oversea education between 2019 and 2021, according to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

Education in Nigeria, especially in the tertiary education sector, has been marred by industrial actions by tertiary institution-based unions such as the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP) and the Colleges of Education Academic Staff Union (CEASU).

Academic activities in most of the government-owned public universities are currently grounded. The lack of agreement between university lecturers and the federal government has kept students out of class since February 2022.

Although a significant number of Nigerians also trooped overseas for greener pastures through the student visa, the dilapidated state of the education system in Nigeria is another factor which has aided the word “Japa”.

“Japa” is an informal word used to describe the movement of people out of Nigeria. 

Subsequently, data from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) shows that a sum of $11.6 billion (N5 trillion) has been expended on foreign education within the last three years.

The data further showed that a sum of $882 million was spent on education-related expenditures by Nigerians in the first half of 2022, a 34.3 percent increase when compared to the $657 million spent in the second half of last year.

Thus, Investors King understands that the amount spent on foreign education has further put pressure on the naira. The incessant and increasing demand for foreign exchange could have hurt the value of Nigerian currency.  

For instance, the number of Nigerian students in the United Kingdom has jumped 686 percent.  Nigerian students now constitute the third largest foreign student group in the UK after India and China. 

Despite the high exchange rate of strong foreign currencies against the naira, several Nigerians continue to find their way overseas. This shows the desperation of many Nigerians to the exodus of “Japa”. 

According to the UK Home Office, 65,929 Nigerians were granted a sponsored study visa in the year ending June 2022. This is a rise of 57,545 (686 percent) compared to 2019 when 8,384 were given.