'Nigerian students migrating abroad at alarming rate'

• Published date: 02 February 2023
• Publication title: Nigeria - The Nation

Kola Daisi University Vice Chancellor, Prof. Adeniyi Olatunbosun has decried the rate at which students move from the country abroad to study.

He stated that students migrate abroad at an alarming rate, adding that about 14, 438 Nigerian students studied in the United States for the 2021/2022 academic session.

He also said in the UK in September 2021, only two other countries, China and India, had more students than Nigeria. Enrolments from Nigeria spiked to 21,305 in the UK during the 2020/2021 academic session.

He spoke at the matriculation of 253 new students on campus in Ibadan, last week.

'Graduates serve as indispensable assets to a nation and as such, Nigeria has become a priority recruitment market for foreign universities. I would like to draw the attention of the Federal Government to how Nigerians flock to the United Kingdom and the United States for university degree programmes,' he said.

The VC urged the government to create other avenues to support private universities financially, adding that they pay more taxes than public universities.

'There should be other forms of financial support for private varsities apart from the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND). Private universities pay more taxes than public universities. Our activities are subjected to multiple taxation,' he said.

The VC said graduates have proved that university teachers are competent and up to the task, despite huge challenges facing them.

He urged the government to appreciate lecturers for maintaining and sustaining...