The Teesside University situation provides an opportunity to look broadly at the larger picture -- the problem of external/foreign education as a material and human drain on Nigeria.
The Nigerian diplomatic and consular efforts need to be more activist in protecting the rights of Nigerians outside our shores. Some of the Teesside University students could use such assistance to secure their respective certificates that were almost earned before they defaulted. The ease with which Nigerians are being subjected to deportation pressures and actual removal should be a basis for negotiations by our diplomats.
The screaming headline of a BBC story on 22 May was to the effect that students from Nigeria at Teesside University have been ordered to leave the UK. Placard carrying students accompanied the story. If one is does not look carefully, only nine students are visible. But a closer look shows a hand clenched around what could be a placard. In addition, two students - a male and a female - are hiding behind another student, whose placard reads: "INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS ALSO HAVE RIGHT[S] RESPECT IT." It means some of the students are being intimidated and are afraid.
These students were demonstrating against just one of the many universities in the UK that are forcing Nigerian students to return home. However, this developing and worsening situation of throwing students out off their respective courses, and reporting them to the British Home Office for deportation, is not unique to Teesside University. Many UK universities that had benefitted enormously at the height of the "japa" syndrome are now causing the Home Office to deport Nigerian students who have defaulted in the payment of their fees.
Historically, Nigerian students have not been habitual tuition defaulters. However, Nigerian students fell on bad times after the unparalleled devaluation of the Nigerian currency by about 300 per cent as the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration began in Nigeria about a year ago. The naira values that respective students had stashed up from the sales of personal or family properties or parental earnings, could no longer meet the needs of external obligations for the payment of tuition fees.
The problem of failure to meet debt obligations is not unique to students. As a result of tripled replacement costs or huge naira debts on goods already sold at pre-devaluation prices, businesses are finding it difficult to continue being in existence. Some businesses are negotiating debt reductions or forgiveness from suppliers around the world. Nigeria being largely an importing country has been unable to take advantage of devaluation through huge export quantities resulting from a cheaper naira.
However, the Teesside University situation provides an opportunity to look broadly at the larger picture -- the problem of external/foreign education as a material and human drain on Nigeria. The problem of foreign education especially in terms of both material and human resource drain on Nigeria is multifaceted. From significant financial costs, exacerbated by the sustained crippling of the naira, a disastrous level of brain drain/talent flight, and broader socio-economic impacts. Included in the problems have been the false expectation that foreign education opens up job opportunities and pathways to residency in the countries of study.
Tuition Fees and Living Expenses
Nigerian students studying abroad often pay significantly higher tuition fees in comparison to what they pay in local institutions. For instance, in countries like the UK, US, and Canada, international student fees can range from $15,000 to over $50,000 per year, depending on the programme and institution. Living expenses, including accommodation, food, and transportation, add to the financial burden. These costs can range from $10,000 to $20,000 annually, and, according to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), they have resulted in a major financial drain on Nigeria over the years. The CBN Governor, Mr Olayemi Cardoso, in a speech to the House of Representatives on 6 February stated that:
"Looking at the demand side of the exchange rate, it's important to note the growing number of Nigerian students studying abroad. In the 1980s and 1990s, the need for US dollars for their living expenses was minimal. However, recent data shows a significant change. According to UNESCO's Institute of Statistics, the number of Nigerian students abroad increased from less than 15,000 in 1998 to over 71,000 in 2015. By 2018, this figure had reached 96,702 students, as per the World Bank. Another report projects the number of Nigerian students studying abroad to exceed 100,000 by 2022. Additionally, the UK's Higher Education Statistics Agency noted a 64 per cent increase in Nigerian students studying in the country, rising from 13,020 in the 2019/2020 academic session to 21,305 by the 2020/2021 session. Given this data, it's crucial to highlight that between 2010 and 2020, foreign education expenses amounted to a substantial US$28.65 billion, as per the CBN's publicly available Balance of Payments Statistics."
The allure of foreign education often undermines confidence in local institutions. There is a perceived gap in the quality of education provided locally, when compared to international standards. Efforts to improve the local education system has continued to be de-prioritised, as the wealthier segment of society opts for foreign education solutions.
On the flip side, the African giant did not attract any form of inflow from foreign students. This is not surprising, given the current state of the Nigerian educational system, with university students counting over seven months at home as a result of strike actions.
The Nigerian young populace has tapped into study visas as a perfect formula to "japa" from the country - an expression that is used to represent escaping from Nigeria. Similarly, many Nigerian companies are currently faced with an exodus of resignations, as foreign schools resumed academic activities and both young and old citizens jumped on the leaving train.
Brain Drain and Loss of Talent
Many Nigerian students who study abroad do not return home after their studies. They often seek mean jobs reserved for them and not jobs measuring up to the skills they had acquired. The salaries and improved living conditions are necessary allures, in spite of the fact that most of the earnings go into meeting survival bills, leaving no extras to do much thereafter. At times, Nigerian youths embark on homelessness, and eating donated foods at soup kitchens, as means of survival.
This sad situation has resulted in a significant loss of skilled professionals in various fields such as Medicine, engineering, IT, banking and finance, and even more recently, the academia.
The absence of highly educated and skilled individuals hampers local development. Sectors like healthcare and education face shortages of qualified personnel, which affect service delivery and overall progress.
Socio-Economic Impacts
The allure of foreign education often undermines confidence in local institutions. There is a perceived gap in the quality of education provided locally, when compared to international standards. Efforts to improve the local education system has continued to be de-prioritised, as the wealthier segment of society opts for foreign education solutions.
Impact on the Nigerian Economy
The massive brain drain currently ravaging the Nigerian corporate world is leaving a huge skills gap in most organisations, as it seems that the best hands are the ones jumping on the "Japa" train, making it imperative for firms to train and retrain their staff to fill the space. This has also meant more competition in terms of hiring, as firms now develop strategies to outwit themselves in getting the remaining best hands in the industry.
Significant investment in Nigeria's education sector is crucial. This includes upgrading infrastructure, enhancing teacher training, and developing a robust curriculum that meets global standards, as well as boosting the emoluments being paid to academics, in order to retain more of the available capacities. In this regard, policies that create attractive job opportunities for graduates within Nigeria, to reduce the incentive to emigrate, is yearning for adoption.
Foreign education spending requires the availability of foreign exchange, something which the Nigerian economy is in shortage of at the moment. The increased demand for the dollar to pay for foreign services, speculative needs, including theft by Nigerian authorities, especially when federal allocations are shared, and importation, amongst others, have caused a significant depreciation of the local currency against the US dollar.
Potential Solutions
Expecting Nigerians who are already outside, as a result of the japa syndrome, to return home is the appropriate thing to do. A lot can be done in meeting the needs of Nigerians from within, through a focus on infrastructure development that will boost productivity on several fronts. However, this is wishful thinking. There is the assumed "shame factor", in returning to Nigeria when all acquisitions, prior to the japa plan, had been liquidated and there is nothing to return to.
The Nigerian diplomatic and consular efforts need to be more activist in protecting the rights of Nigerians outside our shores. Some of the Teesside University students could use such assistance to secure their respective certificates that were almost earned before they defaulted. The ease with which Nigerians are being subjected to deportation pressures and actual removal should be a basis for negotiations by our diplomats. To claim that nothing can be done once a report has been made to the Home Office impugns the involvement of Nigeria in protecting its citizens. We should not remember that we have a diaspora only when calculating annual remittances.
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Significant investment in Nigeria's education sector is crucial. This includes upgrading infrastructure, enhancing teacher training, and developing a robust curriculum that meets global standards, as well as boosting the emoluments being paid to academics, in order to retain more of the available capacities. In this regard, policies that create attractive job opportunities for graduates within Nigeria, to reduce the incentive to emigrate, is yearning for adoption.
Forming partnerships with foreign institutions to facilitate knowledge transfer and collaborative programmes that allow students to gain international exposure without leaving the country permanently would be a welcomed development, after all Nigeria, in my student days, attracted brains from around the world as students and teachers.
The big assumption is that Nigeria would be blessed with the leadership - in all the arms of government, the federal, state and local government levels, as well as public, private and social sectors - that could eschew corruption and divert stolen and hidden wealth, and continued stealing, into education, research and development, as well as improved health delivery. Also, leadership that would boost the rule of law and is capable of successfully handling our currently inclement external dynamics, building sustainable institutions, as well as improving the flow of human and material resources aimed at reducing inequalities. Is such leadership possible at this time in Nigeria's history? I would modify Ayi Kwei Armah to say that: the beautiful ones are yet to be conceived.
Babafemi A. Badejo, author of a best-seller on politics in Kenya, was a former Deputy Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Somalia, and is currently a legal practitioner and professor of Political Science and International Relations at Chrisland University, Abeokuta, Nigeria.
