London — The Students Association of Nigeria in Diaspora (SAND) has called on the government of Nigeria to address the dangerous trend in higher education in country in which huge sums of money are taken to other countries as tuition and school fees.

The president of the association, Mr Olalekan Oshunkoya who made the call in an interview with the Sunday Trust in London urged government to "take responsibility" and evolve measures to salvage the situation so that the huge sums of money being taken out could be channelled to higher institutions in Nigeria.

Currently, more than 40,000 Nigerian students are studying in various institutions of higher learning in the United Kingdom alone, he said, adding that the students pay an average of £10,000 (about N2.5 million) as tuition fees annually, thus contributing significantly to UK's revenue of £2 billion (N500 billion) it makes from foreign students annually.

Oshunkoya lamented that due to the neglect higher education in Nigeria is subjected to, Nigerian universities are not ranked among top universities even in Africa.

"It's time for the government to start doing something in a different direction about education in the country", he said, stressing that Nigerian students do not have to travel abroad or pay exorbitant fees to acquire qualitative education.

He disclosed that SAND is working on a project that seeks to address the challenges of higher education in Nigeria and pledged the readiness of the association to support the government to improve the status of education in the country.