Nigerians seeking admission to institutions abroad spent $340.84 million to fund their applications between January and June 2023.
The Punch reported that the amount spent on educational services under sectoral utilization for transactions eligible for foreign exchange is based on statistics from the Central Bank of Nigeria.
According to the CBN, a total of $40.54m was spent on overseas education in April 2023, with a total of $48.81m spent in May 2023.
However, there was a considerable decline in June 2023, as the bank said that $32.61m was spent.
When compared to $218.88m in the first quarter of 2023, this is a decline of $96.92m or 44.28 percent.
Furthermore, when compared to the second quarter of 2022, the quarter fared poorly, with a performance decrease of $124.42m (50.5%).
Funds sent overseas from academic institutions were not matched by major inflows from outside sources into the local education industry.
Experts expected, however, that the lack of CBN supplies meant that migrating students were obliged to obtain dollars from Bureau De Change operators due to bank delays in processing each Form A.
The Home Office of the United Kingdom recently released data (the commission’s most recent document) revealing that the number of study visas awarded to Nigerians jumped by 222.8%, with 65,929 issued as of June 2022 as opposed to 20,427 during the same period in 2021.
The Central Bank has a backlog of accumulated currency demand on the official market, thereby forcing individuals and businesses to seek dollars on the black market.
However, dollar flows to Nigeria have been diminishing in recent years due to declining investment and lower crude oil exports, which account for more than 90% of the country’s export income.
In an earlier interview, the National President of the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics, Dr. Anderson Ezeibe, stated that the government’s reluctance to spend appropriately in the education sector had a negative impact on the education sector.
“When you go to tertiary institutions, you see dilapidated buildings, lecturers and students alike are unhappy, students do not have access to good equipment for practicals, and the system continues to churn out half-baked graduates.
“The only solution is for the government to fully invest in the sector.” If we have world-class schools in the country, people will not need to travel to other countries to get a good education.”
