Diaspora

Nigerians and the pursuit of foreign education

Since the 1930's, Nigerians from various stratas of society have sought education abroad.

Examples include Nigerian leaders such as Nnamdi Azikwe, and Obafemi Awolowo who studied and earned their degrees in the United States and Britain respectively.

This was at a time that Nigeria was still under British rule. The penchant for foreign education has not decreased since and one can understand why.

The glory days and respect that post secondary institutions in Nigeria command around the world is long gone. It is in a declining state without an end in sight. Also, it lacked the modern facilities necessary to address the challenges of the future. This is in spite of considerable government efforts and resources devoted to the sector. The persistent strikes by universities and conflict with government has also contributed to its current declining state and many innocent students end up spending additional years to the normal length of their program.

The lack of space in post secondary institutions to absorb the increasing number of graduating secondary school students every year is another problem. As a result, parents that can afford it are sending their children to countries such as Canada, Cyprus, United States, and Britain to study. The attraction to these destinations are obvious: the admission process are clear and not laden with problems, students learn the tools of their program from excellent faculty members, accessibility to modern facilities to complement theory in class, programs are completed on time and on schedule, the quality of education is outstanding and opportunities abound to gain foreign work experience after studies in their relevant field of studies in some of these countries.

This is also possible in Nigeria. The establishment of new federal universities is a step in the right direction to alleviate some of the current challenges faced by graduating secondary school students. However, government needs to do more. Government needs to provide the financial and human capital that is required to meet the challenges of tomorrow. The recent appointment of qualified Vice Chancellors is a step in the right direction. Also, the private sector have a strong role to play in the education sector because government cannot do it alone. They need to engage with post secondary institutions by establishing or strengthening existing public-private partnership as their future is inextricably linked to having qualified graduates to meet their future needs. This is prevalent in western societies and there is no reason why Nigeria's private sector cannot engage more in this area.

In the meantime, Nigerians will continue to travel abroad to seek better education while post secondary institutions in Nigeria gets their house in order.

Written by Taiwo Olalere and Kehinde Olalere

Taiwo Olalere, B.A (Carleton)., LL.B (Windsor) & Kehinde Olalere, B.A (Carleton)., LL.B (Windsor) are co-partners at Olalere Law Office, a Canadian Education and Immigration Law firm. www.CanadianImmigrationLawyer.com