Nigerians spent less on foreign education in 2022 than they did in previous years

According to figures from the Central Bank of Nigeria, Nigerians spent $1.38 billion on international education from January 2022 to September 2022.

However, these figures are significantly lower compared to the same time frame, a year prior. In 2021, Nigerians spent $502.6 million more on foreign tuition. 

Despite the apparent decline in Nigeria’s dependence on foreign education, these figures still represent a huge revenue loss for the Nigerian education system. 

As reported by Nairametrics, a Nigerian business media platform, Nigerian universities are yet to receive any form of cash inflow from foreign students, revealing a huge discrepancy in the cash inflow and outflow in the education sector. 

This one-sided trend according to the publications is a result of the fact that education has become the easiest way for Africans to get a visa into European countries, especially the United Kingdom. 

While there is a financial loss to consider, there is also the loss in Nigeria’s labor market. The workforce in the country has been affected tremendously by students who decide to remain in Europe after their tuition. 

The labor gap can also be attributed to those in the country who quit their jobs in search of better opportunities outside the country, especially in the areas of IT and banking. This is also particularly alarming when you take into account that most people migrating are high-level employees, many of which are already on or above managerial levels. 

As a result, skilled labor is more scarce in Nigeria than it should be, and large amounts of funds are budgeted for training programs in order to fill the skill gap in the labor market. 

With the reduction in spending on foreign education, it's hard to decide whether Nigerians are just less interested in seeking education elsewhere, or if it just got a bit more complex and more expensive for students to get an education abroad.