Despite growing shortages of foreign exchange in the nation, the number of Nigerian students enrolled in US universities increased to 17,640 during the 2022–2023 school year.
Statistics from the new Open Doors Report, released by the Washington-based Institute of International Education, show that there were 37.17 percent more Nigerian students in 2022/2023 than there were in the 2020/2021 session (12,860 students moved), and 22.18 percent more than there were in the 2021/2022 session (14,438 students).
A 12 percent increase from the previous year brought the overall number of overseas students enrolled in US universities to 1.06 million for the academic year. In the year that was under review, there were 50,199 students from sub-Saharan Africa.
Nigerian students make up 35.14 percent of all sub-Saharan African students in the United States. At 5.6%, foreign students account for a very modest portion of the 18.96 million students enrolled in US universities as of the 2022–2023 academic year.
There is a surge in the number of Nigerian students migrating to the United States during the country’s currency scarcity situation. Experts claim that the difficult economic conditions in Nigeria are the reason why a large number of Nigerians are emigrating.
“The day I went for my visa interview, there were about a hundred people there,” a prospective immigrant recently told the media.
Biola Abimbola, the founder of Travels N Tours, added, “Yes. More people want to travel now because the state of the economy is bad and the youths are looking for where there are opportunities, especially the middle class. The problem is that more people are leaving than ever before.”
According to a media source, Nigerians spent over $1.01 billion for overseas education in 2022. Compared to the $720.05 million spent in 2021, this represents a 40.36 percent increase.
