Nigeria’s educational challenges have once again come into sharp focus as fresh figures reveal that citizens spent no less than $1.39 billion on foreign schooling in a six-month period, highest since 2021.

According to Balance of Payments report from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Nigerians spent a total of $1.39 billion (N2.16 trillion) on foreign education in the first half of 2025, which shows a notable rise compared to 2024.

This figure represents a 20 percent rise in dollar terms and a 38 percent increase in naira, based on an average exchange rate of N1,553.6/$ during the period.

The surge in education tourism migration is seen to reflect the country persistent dwindling education space amid insecurity and other challenges.

More disturbing according to the CBN data, is that, while Nigeria expends huge amount to educate its citizens in foreign countries, it attracts little or no foreign students to Nigeria’s tertiary institutions.

It is more worrisome that notwithstanding the exchange rate constancy in 2025 compared to last year, many citizens continued to seek foreign education.

Christopher Nmeribe, an educationist said the drive for foreign education among Nigerians is a reflection of the country’s fallen standard of learning and the hard economic realities on ground.

“Every Nigerian wants to leave the country for even another African country, just to escape the harsh economic challenges.

“On the other hand, Nigerian tertiary institutions cannot attract foreign student and foreign exchange as a result of decline standard of education, and the insecurity challenges,” he said.

Similarly, Olusola Kayode, a public servant, said he is not surprised by the data from the CBN.

“Truth be told, we all want migrate, most of these people are not going for the love of education but as a window to realizing their dream life.

“I know of a uniform personnel who left as a student but she actually went to seek greener pasture, that is the reality,” he noted.

The CBN data further revealed that in a space of five years (2020 to 2025 first half), Nigeria spent approximately the sum of $11.1 billion (N9.9 trillion) on foreign education.

The 9.9 trillion on foreign education amounts to about 2.6 percent of the country’s annual nominal GDP in the same time frame, which is more than the education budgets of federal and state governments.

Recall that President Bola Tinubu allocated N2.52 trillion to the education in h 2025 budget, which is about five percent of the total budget. (BusinessDay)