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In recent times there have been questions about the loss of bright Nigerian students and minds to more advanced economies like the United States of America (USA), the United Kingdom (UK) and a number of other G20 countries. The G20 is an international forum for the governments and central bank governors from 20 major economies (such as Argentina, Canada, France, Germany, South Korea, South Africa, and the USA among others). Interestingly, some African countries, like Ghana equally attract a fair share of Nigerian students as well. This phenomenon could be transformed into gains for Nigeria.
Open Doors, a comprehensive information resource on international students and scholars studying or teaching at higher education institutions in the United States in a Report on International Educational Exchange, stated that as at last year, there were 31,113 students from Sub-Saharan Africa and they comprised four (4) percent of the 886,052 international students in the USA. The top Sub-Saharan African countries of origin were Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana, South Africa, Cameroon and Ethiopia.
The new report indicates there were 9,494 students from Nigeria studying in the United States in 2014/15, making Nigeria the leading source of students from Africa and the 15th largest country worldwide among international students in the United States. This marks a three-year high in the number of Nigerians studying in the United States since 2012
Ilemona Ameadaji, a Nigerian sophomore at the University of California, Berkeley narrated her odyssey at the university. “I moved from being the smartest kid at my high school in Nigeria to becoming the dumbest student at the University of California. This did not last long because I soon discovered the resources available at the university and made use of them” she offered.
Ameadaji stressed that studying in the USA helped her make significant academic discoveries, especially realising that knowledge is organically integrated, with the various branches of knowledge converging and forming a whole. “I find that this is largely missing at institutions of higher learning in Nigeria, where students tend to learn by rote” she said.
It costs between $25, 000 (N7.4 million) and $50, 000 (N14 million) on the average to fund an academic year in a USA university. The 2015 Open Doors Report on International Educational Exchange reveals that the number of international students at U.S. colleges and universities had the highest rate of growth in 35 years, increasing by ten percent to a record high of 974,926 students in the 2014/15 academic year. Some African countries, like Ghana attract Nigerian students as well.
Lamido Sanusi Lamido, former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) had said during a public lecture in 2014 that “although there are no comprehensive data on the number of Nigerian students abroad, recent data have shown that there are about 71,000 Nigerian students in Ghana paying about US$1 billion annually as tuition fees and upkeep, as against the annual budget of US$751 million for all federal universities”
Now, ‘brain drain’ as some prefer to call it masks bigger questions which relate to the factors that determine the direction, size and composition of the international immigration flow and market. Individuals make the migration decision by considering the values of the various alternatives, and choosing the option that best suits them given the financial and legal constraints that regulate the international migration process.
When viewed in this light, studying in a foreign university assumes a new meaning. Individuals ‘search’ for the country of residence that maximises their wellbeing and increases the possibility of future income maximisation as well. This principle drives individuals to seek studies abroad.
Joshua Agundu, a registered engineer with the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN) recently left for the USA to obtain a Master of Science (MSc) in micro-electronics, a specialisation he said is not offered at any Nigerian university. “I have passion for micro-electronics and am ready to go to wherever this could be obtained in order to improve myself and why not, there is a promise of higher income after these sacrifices” he said.
STEPHEN ONYEKWELU
