A total of $695.85m was released for educational purposes between January and September 2022.
According to data from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), 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 “$69.9m was spent in February 2022.”
In March 2022, there was a significant increase as the bank stated that $87.26m was spent.
In April, there was a little reduction as a total of $78.62m was recorded by the apex bank.
The figure for May 2022 was put at $82.70m.
In June 2022, the apex bank released $84.90m, while $61.99m was released in July 2022.
A slight increase was recorded in August 2022 when $84.01m was released.
In September 2022, $86.34m was released for the same purpose.
Nigerians have continued to troop out in their numbers in pursuit of foreign academic qualifications, due largely to the declining quality of education in the country as well as recurring industrial dispute between the Federal Government and the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) which leads to several strikes leaving students at home for months.
Recent data released by the Home Office of the United Kingdom revealed that the number of study visas released to Nigerians increased by 222.8 per cent, with 65,929 issued as of June 2022 as against 20,427 during the same period in 2021.