The Minister of Education, Tunji Alausa, has dismissed concerns over the mass movement of Nigerian students to foreign universities, saying the trend has reduced significantly under the current administration.
PrimeTimes Nigeria reports that Alausa stated this on Tuesday during an interview on Channels Television, where he said improved academic stability and renewed investment in tertiary education had made Nigerian universities more attractive to students.
The minister was responding to a question based on 2023 data, which placed Nigeria third globally in outbound student mobility, behind China and India, with Nigerian students reportedly accounting for about five per cent of global student movement.
Alausa, however, rejected the figures, describing them as outdated and not a true reflection of the current situation in the country’s education sector.
“That’s not Japa. And please, qualify your data. Thank God you told me it was a 2023 figure,” he said.
According to him, 2023 was a difficult period for the Nigerian education system, especially due to prolonged disruptions in the academic calendar and inadequate investment in tertiary institutions.
“2023 was when we came in. There was no academic continuity. They had the kind of extensive investment you’ve made in a tertiary education that wasn’t there,” he added.
‘Students Now Staying Back’
The minister said the Federal Ministry of Education had been tracking the number of Nigerian students leaving the country for foreign universities through its educational support services department.
He claimed that available records showed a major decline in the number of students seeking education abroad.
“We’ve seen a precipitous drop in the number of students going out. Our tertiary institutions are better now. We have academic continuity, academic session continuity,” Alausa said.
He explained that the restoration of academic calendar stability had helped rebuild confidence in Nigerian universities.
Alausa also cited the Joint Universities Preliminary Examinations Board, popularly known as JUPEB, as an example of the growing confidence in local education options.
He described JUPEB as Nigeria’s equivalent of the British A-levels, adding that many students who would have travelled abroad for similar programmes were now taking them in the country.
According to him, the programme has become oversubscribed, showing that more students and parents are beginning to trust local alternatives.
The minister also mentioned the University of Lagos law programme and other top institutions, saying some of them now turn away applicants because of excess demand.
“Kids are staying there. The quality of education is significantly better. If you now compare the 2023 data with 2024 and 2025 and see the precipitous drop of Nigeria going out,” he said.