Nigeria’s Minister of Education, Tunji Alausa, has pushed back against concerns that Nigerian students are increasingly leaving the country to study abroad, insisting that the tide has actually turned significantly under the current administration.
According to reports, on Tuesday, Alausa argued that targeted investments in academic stability and institutional quality have made Nigerian universities far more appealing to local students.
His comments came in response to the show’s presenter citing 2023 data that placed Nigeria third in the world for outbound student movement, accounting for roughly five percent of global student mobility behind only China and India.
The minister was quick to dismiss those figures as outdated and not reflective of where things stand today.
He pointed out that 2023 happened to be a particularly difficult year for Nigeria’s education sector, one marked by lengthy academic disruptions and a lack of meaningful investment in tertiary institutions conditions he said have since improved considerably.
Alausa revealed that his ministry has been actively monitoring the movement of students going abroad and has observed a sharp decline in those numbers.
He attributed this to improved academic continuity and a general uplift in the quality of tertiary education across the country.
As evidence of growing confidence in local alternatives, he highlighted the Joint Universities Preliminary Examinations Board of Nigeria’s equivalent of the British A-levels noting that students who previously sought this qualification abroad are now completing it at home, with demand far outstripping available spaces.
He also referenced the University of Lagos law school and other leading institutions as examples of programmes currently turning away applicants due to overwhelming interest.
The minister maintained that a direct comparison between 2023 figures and those from 2024 and 2025 would clearly show how dramatically the situation has shifted, with significantly fewer Nigerian students opting to study outside the country.