“Foreign exchange crises have now made remote learning more attractive and ultimately inevitable” —Ebuka Onyekwelu
Patronage for foreign education in Nigeria dates back to pre-independent Nigeria. The country’s founding father, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, was schooled at Howard University in the United States. Similarly, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Nigeria’s founding father, was schooled at the University of London in the United Kingdom. At the time, both founding fathers had no luxury of options. But a few years down the line, those seeking higher education had options.
However, from then till the nation’s independence in 1960, foreign education has remained attractive to Nigerians. Since independence till now, several Nigerians have gone to be educated abroad. Between 2015 and 2018, UNESCO reported that the number of Nigerian students abroad moved from 71, 000 to 96, 702 students. By 2020, the number reportedly hover around 100, 000 students.
However, with the rising concerns over foreign exchange and the general economic meltdown across the globe, but also in Nigeria specifically, foreign education while it remains attractive has now become high-priced for the vast majority of foreign education seekers. Not long ago, the Governor of Nigeria’s apex bank, Olayemi Cardoso, revealed that within the last decade, Nigerians have expended around $40 billion in foreign exchange on education abroad and medical tourism. With the difficulty now associated with getting foreign exchange, it is obviously far more difficult for Nigerians to afford in-person foreign education. To put this in perspective, only recently, in May 2024, Nigerian students in the UK’s Teesside University were asked to leave the University and the United Kingdom as they were unable to pay their school fees. The students blamed their inability to pay on the biting foreign exchange which has altered their financial power in the UK and therefore they were unable to pay up. This situation as unfortunate as it may sound, might signify a new trend in the foreign education drive. Worst still, family visas for dependents on account of foreign education placement is gradually coming to a halt. Remote learning looks promising and might actually be explored by authorities as a means of managing the deep predicament of the country’s foreign exchange.
Naira cannot successfully sponsor the dollar or the pound without consequences on the Naira
In a way, the demand for foreign education by Nigerians is a challenge to the economy. Excessive foreign exchange pulled out of the Nigerian economy with no multiple sources of earning back foreign exchanges creates a unique problem for the Nigerian economy. Naira cannot successfully sponsor the dollar or the pound without consequences on the Naira. Nigerian foreign education applicants earn in Naira and then spend in foreign currencies that are far more valuable than the Naira. Therefore, from every possible angle, the in-person foreign education industry in Nigeria must innovate or risk going into extinction. Considering the current financial realities, even the super-rich can no longer afford in-person foreign education with so much ease as they once did.
The Nigerian market for foreign education remains attractive and significantly so for Universities in the UK, Canada, the US, and elsewhere. Only about a year ago, the CBN revealed that Nigerians spent $1.3 billion in foreign education between January and September 2022. It is difficult to pose under any guise, that this sort of expenditure can be sustained given the prevailing circumstances in the Nigerian economy.
The biggest part of this problem is that in many instances, some Nigerians after spending fortunes in pursuit of foreign education, still come back to struggle for jobs, or are trapped in those countries working on menial jobs. “On my visit to Dublin last year, I met a Nigerian banker who resigned and moved to the country. He has an MBA which he acquired there. As of then, he has lived in that country for 25 years and he is a taxi driver. Many of his mates in Nigeria have attained top bank management level and no more struggling to meet their needs,” narrates Mr. Brown, who doesn’t understand the drive for these journeys at such high costs. The other side of this debate is that thousands of Nigerian scholars abroad are eager to teach virtually as a way of transferring their knowledge and expertise ‘home’, thereby casting more doubts on these journeys.
The depths of these foreign exchange crises have now made remote learning far more attractive and ultimately inevitable. Foreign education for Nigerians remains smart, but, how they can have the foreign education and not run into serious foreign exchange problems, and also not leave their jobs, remains a puzzle that must be resolved. “Nigerians have to embrace the future. The future of foreign education for Nigerians is remote learning,” says Arinze, a Nigerian foreign education consultant based in Lagos. He also said that this might take some more time, but that is the future, he affirmed. He also emphasized the need for skill-based learning. Schools like the Online Business School Coventry in the United Kingdom, offering a range of skill-based learning and professional courses, might have positioned for this future. Considering that the Nigerian foreign education market is vast and enticing, remote foreign education that creates a balance between learning and work will not only largely reduce the foreign exchange challenge, but will also help most foreign education seekers avoid running into becoming stranded in a foreign country.
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