Nigeria's educational challenges have once again come into sharp focus as the latest data showed citizens spent no less than $1.39 billion on overseas schooling in the six-month period, the highest since 2021.
According to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) balance of payments report, Nigerians spent a total of $1.39 billion (N2.16 trillion) on foreign education in the first half of 2025, showing a significant increase compared to 2024.
Based on the average exchange rate of N1,553.6/$ during the period, the figure represents a 20 percent increase in dollar terms and a 38 percent increase in Naira.
The increase in education tourism migration is seen to reflect the ever-decreasing education space in the country amid insecurity and other challenges.
What is more disturbing according to CBN data is that, while Nigeria spends huge sums of money educating its citizens abroad, it attracts little or no foreign students into Nigeria's tertiary institutions.
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What is more worrying is that despite exchange rate stability in 2025 compared to last year, many citizens continued to receive foreign education.
Christopher Nmeribe, an educationist, said the drive for foreign education among Nigerians is a reflection of the country's falling learning levels and hard economic realities at the grassroots.
“Every Nigerian wants to leave the country to another African country to escape the harsh economic challenges.
“On the other hand, Nigerian tertiary institutions cannot attract foreign students and foreign exchange as a result of falling standards of education and insecurity challenges,” he said.
Similarly, Olusola Kayode, a civil servant, said he was not surprised by the CBN figures.
“Truth be told, we all want to migrate, most of these people are migrating not for the love of education but to realize their dream life.
“I know of one uniformed personnel who left as a student, but she really went in search of greener pastures, that is the reality,” he said.
CBN data further revealed that over a five-year period (2020 to the first half of 2025), Nigeria spent the sum of about $11.1 billion (N9.9 trillion) on overseas education.
The amount of Rs 9.9 trillion spent on foreign education is about 2.6 percent of the country's annual nominal GDP in the same time frame, which is more than the education budgets of the federal and state governments.
Recall that President Bola Tinubu had allocated N2.52 trillion for education in the 2025 budget, which is about five percent of the total budget.
