Cape Town - Nigerian youth and students say that they are fed up with rampant violence, corruption and the cost of living in their home country and they want to leave Nigeria for good.
Young people make up about 65% of the population of Nigeria, the most populous country in Africa.
According to leveragedu.com, students from developing countries choose to move abroad for higher studies as this offers not only internationally recognised degrees, but also a high quality of life.
The Nigeria Market Sentiments and Study Motivations 2022 report said that elections in 2023 have contributed to “the uncertainty on the ground” among Nigeria’s students.
A growth in interest in distance learning from professionals, and employers’ demands in key ed-tech sectors, will continue to push the desire for degrees from universities overseas, reports thepienews.com, which provides news and business analysis for professionals in international education.
Researchers surveyed more than 4 000 respondents in the country – around half of whom were aged 18 to 25 – and 90% of them indicated that they were looking to study abroad.
About 58% of respondents said the devaluation of the currency had impacted their study plans.
Competition for recruitment
Competition for the recruitment of Nigerian students who are seeking high-quality university education in foreign destinations has increased in the past few years because of their ability to pay higher tuition fees in comparison with their counterparts from other countries in sub-Saharan Africa, according to Universities UK International, a body that represents 140 British universities, writes University World News.com.
Furthermore, a new survey suggests that two thirds of young African people are not optimistic about the direction of their country or the continent, but remain positive about their personal futures, BBC Africa reported on Monday.
In terms of visas issued to the UK, Nigeria recorded a rise of 234.7% to 18 580 in the first nine months of 2021 from 5 551 in the same period of 2019.
Researchers conducted more than 4 000 face-to-face interviews across 15 countries for the African Youth Survey.
IOL