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Banks release $533.48m for foreign education. The sum given by banks through the Central Bank of Nigeria for international education has reached $533.48 million.
The sum acquired from the apex bank’s most recent statistical bulletin was a total of the amounts released between October 2022 and March 2023.
Experts believe that the amount for the second quarter of 2023, from April to June 2023, will be greater due to the CBN’s recent unification of the exchange rate.
Prior to unification, there was a significant difference between the black market and official currency rates.
The japa wave has also continued to put huge pressure on the naira as migrating students have been forced to source dollars from Bureau De Change operators owing to delays by banks to process respective Form A.
According to the CBN data, the sum of $96.19m was released in October 2022. There was an increase in November 2022 when a total of $125.29m was released for the same purpose.
In December 2022, the CBN noted that a sum of $93.12m was released. Further breakdown revealed that in January 2023, the sum of $91.45m was released for educational purposes.
In February 2023, there was a slight decrease in amount as only $74.03M was released. There was a slight decrease from that in March 2023 as the CBN revealed that only $53.40M was released.
PUNCH reports that Nigerians have continued to troop out in their numbers in pursuit of foreign academic qualifications.
According to recent data given by the United Kingdom’s Home Office, the number of study visas issued to Nigerians surged by 222.8 percent, with 65,929 issued as of June 2022, compared to 20,427 during the same period in 2021.
In a conversation with our correspondent, Prof. Alabi Thomas, a Professor of Education at the Federal University of Technology, Minna, blamed the migration on government policies that, according to him, have continued to undermine the education sector.
Thomas also asked the incoming administration to guarantee that the industry is effectively served.