There has been a significant drop in the number of students seeking to travel abroad to attend tertiary institutions.
Nigeria’s Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, who made the disclosure, attributed the new development to improved standards and uninterrupted academic calendar back home.
He spoke while featuring on Tuesday during an interview on CHANNLES TV, dismissing claims that Nigeria was still witnessing a massive wave of students leaving the country for foreign education.
Alausa, faulted the statistics showing that Nigeria ranked among the countries with the highest outbound student mobility in 2023.
According to him, the statistics is outdated and no longer reflective of the current reality in Nigeria.
The data, he argued was generated during a period when the country’s education sector was battling instability, prolonged academic disruptions and inadequate investment in higher institutions.
His words, “That was in 2023 when this administration came in. At the time, there was no academic continuity and the level of investment in tertiary education was poor.”
He said the reforms introduced by the current administration have restored stability to universities and improved confidence in the local education system.
“We have seen a significant drop in the number of students going abroad. Our tertiary institutions are better now and there is academic session continuity.
“The quality of education is improving and more students are choosing to remain in the country,” Alausa said.
According to him, the increasing popularity of the Joint Universities Preliminary Examinations Board programme shows that more students were embracing local alternatives instead of pursuing admission pathways overseas.
Prompt News Online reports that behind China and India, Nigeria is the 3rd-largest source country for foreign students across the world.
Nigeria also accounted for about 5% of globally mobile students in 2023, according to UNESCO’s 2026 Higher Education Global Trends Report.
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