Nearly 100, 000 Nigerian students left for UK in 5yrs – FG

Federal Government has disclosed that nearly 100, 000 Nigerians students departed the country to the United Kingdom in a space of five years from 2017 to 2022 for further academic studies.

This is also as the government disclosed of plans to fully automate the Nigerian passport and visa processing system.

Speaking during the opening ceremony of the 2023 University of Lagos International Week, Monday, in Lagos, Minister of Interior, Dr Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, said according to statistics, no fewer than 99,985 Nigerian students left the country to enroll in universities in the United Kingdom between 2017 and 2022.

“Every year, over 100 Nigerian students benefit from the scholarship for postgraduate and PhD degrees, I speak from students personally; we have hundreds of professionals and entrepreneurs leaving our shores to break new grounds across our lands.

“And on our part, we must ensure that we play our part in the actualisation of their dreams. They carry our identity, one which not only aids their pursuit, but also defines them.

”According to the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), reports have shown that about 99,985 Nigerian students left this country to enroll in universities in the United Kingdom between 2017 and 2022.

“While many may contend that majority of these students have simply ‘JAPA’ for other reasons, we cannot also deny the fact that a larger chunk of these students have left with the purest of intent to seek further knowledge for self advancement.

“Now, in going all through this therefore, I may want to ask, why our students should now suffer to acquire international passports, even when they have paid for it.

“Their pursuit of breaking new grounds across borders, is one which gives us great joy as through our children, we sustain the future,” he said.

The theme of the University of Lagos international week is; ‘Breaking the Borders of Partnership’.

On the matter of expediting international passport and visa processing, the minister disclosed that the ministry had commenced the automation of the end-to-end passport application process, and had given a timeline from which Nigerians would begin to experience the “sweet experience.

According to him, this is in addition to plans to open 12 more visa application centres across the world.

“By implication, Nigerians will not need to wait longer than two weeks before they get their passport.

“By January next year, Nigerians will be able to complete this application process online, and by February next year, with collaboration and partnership with other relevant stakeholders, Nigerians will have their passport delivered to their homes, offices and other locations of their choice,” he stated.

According to him, this will also be extended to the visa application process, with technology deployed throughout the entire process, to make it as seamless as possible.

The minister said to achieve this, his office had set everything into motion to open 12 more visa application centres across the world.

“In this regard, we are also working on strengthening our visa- on-arrival policy.

“We are working with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to enforce the principle of reciprocity and a committee has been set up in the ministry to achieve this,” he said.

Earlier in her welcome address, the Vice Chancellor of UNILAG, Prof. Folasade Ogunsola, said at the turn of the 21st century, the world had started to come to terms with the impact of globalisation.

She said this was so in all its ramifications on how life would be lived in the present and in the future.

According to her, the global-higher education sector was not left out as it was itself both a driver of, and a respondent to the changes being witnessed.

She noted that there was growing recognition among its managers on the place of universities and like institutions, as research, teaching and learning arena, Ogunsola said managers believed that if such institutions were going to be valuable to the knowledge economy of the 21st century, they would have to adapt to the imperatives of internationalising higher education.