https://thestreetjournal.org/nigerians-spent-695m-on-foreign-education-within-nine-months-cbn-reveals/

Data from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has revealed that $695 million was released for educational purposes between January and September 2022.

The figure which was released on January 22, 2023, did not include the forex obtained from the black market.

The figure was calculated based on the information provided on the amount spent on educational services under the sectoral utilisation for transactions valid for foreign exchange.

In January 2022, the apex bank noted that “$60,202,730.84 was spent on foreign education”, while noting that “$69.9 million was spent in February 2022.”

In March 2022, there was a significant increase as the bank stated that $87.26 million was spent.

In April, there was a little reduction as a total of $78.62 million was recorded by the apex bank.

The figure for May 2022 was put at $82.70 million

In June 2022, the CBN released $84.90 million, while $61.99 million was released in July 2022.

A slight increase was recorded in August 2022 when $84.01 million was released.

In September 2022, $86.34 million was released for the same purpose.

Meanwhile, Nigerians have continued to troop out in their numbers in pursuit of foreign academic qualifications.

Recent data released by the Home Office of the United Kingdom (UK) revealed that the number of study visas released to Nigerians increased by 222.8 percent, with 65,929 issued as of June 2022 as against 20,427 during the same period in 2021.

Education in Nigeria, especially in the tertiary educational 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.

The data from CBN revealed that Nigerians remitted more than $695 million to foreign academic institutions in nine months without significant reciprocity in form of inflows from foreign sources to the local educational sector, The Punch reports.

It is worth noting that the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), in 2018, observed that about 76,338 Nigerians were studying abroad as of 2018, the highest from an African country.

The figure does not capture transactions from dom accounts and other sources.