Nigeria, ultra-rich hunting ground for foreign varsities

Undoubtedly, the international education market is increasing in scope and size. In the process, it is also gaining immense momentum. While some parents see sending their wards abroad to acquire tertiary education as a status symbol, others are doing so owing to the increasing lack of access in Nigerian tertiary institutions. Consequent upon this, lots of tertiary institutions from the West, the Arabian Gulf and indeed other parts of the world are constantly wooing Nigerian students. The implication of this is both good and bad in equal measure as ENO-ABASI SUNDAY found out in this report.
DELECTABLE Miss Phoebe Larry-Izamoje graduated from Imperial College, London in 2012, upon completion of her Master’s degree in Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Management. Earlier on, she had bagged a B.A. (Hons) degree in Accounting and Finance from the University of Manchester, still in London.
  Upon her return to the country, she took up an appointment as a management trainee with Nigerian Breweries Plc in December 2012 through to January 2014.  After spending one year and two months in that capacity, she was in January this year made assistant brand manager- Amstel Malta.
  Phoebe represents that lucky group of young Nigerians who have, either through the instrumentality of their parents, governments or well-wishers acquired tertiary education in the West.
  Miss Larry-Izamoje’s path to schooling abroad was strewn with no thorns.  Apart from having capable parents who had the financial muscle to help her realise her dream education, she also attended Nigerian institutions that were directly aligned with very good universities abroad.
  “I attended Bridge House College, Ikoyi for my university foundation programme and before that, I attended Chrisland College. These institutions boast hundreds of students they have facilitated their study abroad, and who have come back successfully,” she submitted.
  With her return to the country and with a dream job, the young lady who “looked at the global league of universities and wanted to study in one of the world’s top 20 universities,” has effectively realised her dreams having been tutored at “Imperial College Business School for my Masters, currently the world’s second-best university.”
 Miss Inemesit Okodi, who just graduated from University of Bradford, Halifax, West Yorkshire, United Kingdom is another Nigerian who is of the opinion that schooling in the United Kingdom remains one of the greatest things to happen to any young Nigerian seeking knowledge.
  She buttressed this assertion by adding that not only are UK certificates recognised worldwide depending on ones level of accomplishment, but the availability of eminently qualified teachers and the abundance of facilities, she said adds to the overall pleasant learning experience out there.
  These two ladies, represent an infinitesimal percentage of the tens of thousands of Nigerians that depart the country at regular intervals to begin or continue their academic sojourns in different parts of the world, either for the purposes of acquiring quality education or making up for the increasingly lack of access in the country’s tertiary education system.
  In the last couple of years, about 1.5 million candidates sit for the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB)-organised Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), with the hope of securing admissions into the over 150 private and public Nigerian universities. Of this number, barely 400, 000 are admitted to read their choice courses and the Federal Government seems to be at its wits’ end on the matter.
  For instance, while JAMB Registrar/Chief Executive, Prof. Dibu Ojerinde accused universities of under-utilising admission spaces as only 35 per cent out of the 1, 735, 892 who sat for the 2013 UTME secured admissions in Nigerian universities, immediate past Minister of State for Education, Ezebunwo Nyesom Wike, had urged Nigerians affected by the lack of carrying capacity in conventional universities to enrol in the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN).
  Apart from this apparent lack of access plaguing Nigerian colleges, infrastructure inadequacies; insufficient endowment fund and assistance from alumni and community; poor human resources; poor funding of universities; endless strike actions by teachers; indiscipline on the part of teachers and students; and dependence on government also come in handy to afflict the system endemically.
  Time was when a good number of young Africans from countries like Zambia, Ghana, Angola, Zimbabwe and beyond were educated in Nigerian colleges at the end of which they returned home with the Golden Fleece. But the problems besetting the tertiary education sector in the country has ensured that the reverse is now the case as young Nigerians are now found in far-flung locations across the world, seeking education in illustrious and famed academic institutions, as well as in some nondescript and ramshackle ones. Funny enough, neighbouring African countries including Ghana, Republic of Benin, Togo are some of the destination where the search for quality education is taking Nigerian youths to.
  Daily, all sorts of recruitment officers and education administrators, decked in shimmering suits with their large portmanteaus, arrive in Nigeria in search of Nigerian students to take away. With this unending arrivals, the country has been turned into one large education fair ground, where recruitment officers serve as salesmen, and do their utmost to convince the strike-weary Nigerian students and their parents that the institutions they represent remain the right destination for the knowledge-seeking youths, who apart from the will to study abroad, must be scions of deep-pocketed parents, who are more often politicians, top businessmen and top government dignitaries.
  However, it is instructive to note that apart from children of the haves who are willing to school abroad, those that fail to secure sufficient marks to earn them places in Nigerian universities are also targets of the foreign institutions.
  Sitting in audience in one of such education fairs, one is inundated with all sorts of offerings and incentives in both realistic and unrealistic realms. They include scholarship opportunities, work-study offers and fragmented fee payment schedules just to mention a few.
  Engaging some agents/representatives of some of these schools reiterates the obvious- a number of them are charlatans looking for unsuspecting parents and students to fleece. While the capacity of some of the schools to make eggheads of the students they are shepherding away remains suspect, the chances of hidden charges popping up in the course of the students’ academic odysseys remains sky high.
  Promoters of the idea of seeking knowledge abroad often reel out a legion of dividends that accrue from the exercise. Among others, they guarantee completion of studies in record time. They also claim that students who studied abroad pick jobs easily, or generally fare better than their locally schooled counterparts in international labour market.
  In addition to this, they say that in view of the fact that knowledge has become an international commodity, the top of the range know-how brought in by students who studied abroad, also helps in rejuvenating ailing economies.
   Analysts are of the view that this ever-expanding international education market has benefitted immensely from Nigeria’s deeply troubled tertiary education sector. The evidences are manifold.
  Curiously, while some of the world’s most developed education systems including the United States and the United Kingdom are playing host to some Nigerian students, it appears the greatest beneficiary of Nigeria’s epileptic tertiary education system is next-door neighbour-Ghana, where unbefitting structures including uncompleted buildings and Portakabins house some of the 51 private universities set up to target Nigerian students.
  This much was attested to by the Nigeria’s High Commissioner to Ghana, Ambassador Ademola Onafowokan, when he said, “...A thousand and one one-block and many mushroom universities (are) set up to target Nigerian students yearning for education…. But, sadly, they are not cheap as Nigerians pay in dollars. These universities are just pure business ventures.”
  One of such institutions, which operates from a one-block facility and which claims equal fame and capacity to that possessed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), U.S., is the Accra Institute of Technology. Of its 2, 000 population as at late last year, nearly a third are Nigerians.
  Its “doctoral programme” is run from a rented uncompleted structure, where it charges between $1, 300 and $1, 510 per session. Accommodation and feeding are not included in this amount.
  Other institutions that fall into the league of one-block varsities are Mahatma Gandhi University, Accra campus, Radford University College, Accra and the Sikkim Manipal University, Accra campus. Worthy of note also is that fact that of all the 50 private universities that Nigerian students troop to, over 98 per cent of them do not award degrees on their own, but serve as study centres of schools located abroad. Only the Valley View University (VVU), belonging to the Seventh Day Adventist awards degrees on its own, without doing so in concert with any government-owned or foreign varsity.
  Another factor that still remains a sore point in the academic sojourns of Nigerian youths, especially in Ghana is the fact that these private institutions through their doors open to students deficient in their Senior Secondary Certificate Examination (SSCE) for undergraduate programmes, even though affected students are expected to remedy their deficiencies before the end of their stay in the schools.
Economic losses occasioned by capital flight
Evidently, this “exodus” has caused the country immense economic woes and played a critical role in the under-development of the education sector, which is cardinal to national development. Nigerian youths are now making substantial contribution to the running of some developed systems across the world.
  For instance, in elite institutions in the UK, while local students and those from the European Union countries pay £1, 310 or something in that neighbourhood per session, Nigerian and other international students spend £19, 000 averagely on living expenses as well as tuition fees per session. For the science students among them, the amount usually shoots through the roof.
  In the United States, average tuition fees stands at $8, 000 per session and the entire sum could go up to more than $25, 000 when calculated alongside accommodation, feeding, Internet access etc. In Singapore, tuition fee average is $4, 000; $20, 000 in Malta and $1, 000 in Malaysia.
 One of the organisations that gave an insight into the huge economic loses that Nigeria suffers on account of affording her youths foreign education is Exams Ethics International, which revealed that the country spends a mind-boggling ₦1.5trn yearly for this purpose.
  According to the organisation, Ghana, UK and U.S. were some of the greatest beneficiaries of Nigeria’s indiscretion in the education sector.  
  Chairman of the group, Ike Onyechere, who is of the view that the amount covers monies spent on scholarships, private and government owned institutions, and individuals, said it was imperative to halt this trend to “prevent this huge economic loss,” adding that, “This is the greatest negative balance of payment any country can suffer,” he said.
  Earlier on in 2012, the then chairman, Committee of Pro-Chancellors of Nigerian Universities, Dr. Wale Babalakin (SAN) had stated that statistics from the Nigerian Embassy in Ghana claimed that about 110, 000 Nigerian youths were studying in Ghana with approximately N160bn injected into the Ghana education system by them.
   However, a recent study published by World University News, claimed that 75, 000 Nigerians were in schools in that West African country alone.
  Former Governor of the Central Bank Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, had at a public lecture revealed staggering figures and the cost implications for students and indeed the country as it relates to studying in Ghana.
  According to Sanusi now the Emir Of Kano, “Although there are no comprehensive data on the number of Nigerian students abroad, recent data have shown that there are about 71, 000 Nigerian students in Ghana, paying about $1bn United States dollars annually as tuition fees and upkeep, as against the annual budget of $751 million for all federal universities.
  “In other words, the money spent by Nigerian students studying in Ghana with a better organised system, is more than the annual budget of all federal universities in the country,” the former apex bank governor had lamented.
  “Nigeria is today placed third on the list of countries with the highest number of students studying overseas,” he added.
  Many took Sanusi’s figures as fairly reliable considering the fact that all requests for overseas remittances, which also include funds for students’ fees and upkeep are processed through the banks.
  Because of the way Nigerians value education, generations of them have been educated in Britain over the last 70 years or thereabouts. A report in 2010 had it that Nigerians spend in the UK, monies in the region of ₦246bn to educate their loved ones. This sum formed over 60 per cent of the 2012 education allocation in that year’s annual budget, which stood at ₦400.15bn. The 2013 budget for education marginally rose to ₦426.53 bn.
   According to data provided by the United Kingdom Council for International Student Affairs, 17, 585 Nigerians were duly registered as students studying in British universities in the 2012 academic year. That number was about a thousand more than the 16, 680 that registered in the 2009/10 academic session.
  Though Nigeria’s student population remains the third highest from non-European Union countries, trailing 39, 090 recorded for India and 67, 325 for China, it would contest for second place by 2015.
   In 2012, a British parliamentarian, Mr. Iain Stewart, who spoke at an education seminar at the behest of Focus Learning Support (FLS), in collaboration with Global Development Partnerships, Sodji Sports Foundation and the University of East London said, “There will be nearly 30, 000 Nigerian students in the UK by 2015. These numbers account for seven per cent of the total UK university population; this is a very significant number,” he said.
  Stewart, who explained that the international students market was worth nearly £10 billion, had urged UK politicians and the academic sector to place more importance on the industry.
  Stewart’s prophesy was corroborated by statistics from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), which confirmed that the number of Nigerian students gunning for degrees in the UK had tripled in eight years.
  Late last year, the statistics indicated that a total of 17, 640 Nigerians had enrolled for different degrees in UK universities during 2011/12 compared to 5, 385 for 2003/04.
  Specifically, Nottingham Trent College, which is based in Nottingham in the East Midlands in England, within the period under review, had on its register, nearly double the number of Nigerian students it had just about three years ago. For the last academic year, that is 2013/14, 64 Nigerians enrolled at the university, compared to 38 in 2011/12.
 According to the U.S. Embassy Educational Advising Center, in 2011, Nigeria had more students schooling in the U.S. than any sub-Saharan African country. Within the period under review, there were over 6, 500 students studying at over 733 institutions in all of the country’s 50 states as well as the District of Columbia.
  But recent data reveals that the search for the knowledge is the reason why 7, 318 Nigerian students are currently studying in more than 700 universities and colleges in the same country.
  According to the Head, Embassy Education Advising Centre, Jennifer Onyeukwu,  “The total, right now, of Nigerian students studying in the U.S. is 7, 318 at undergraduate and graduate programmes. This fall, we sending more than 100 students to study in the U.S., over 80 per cent had some form of scholarship or financial aid from schools in the U.S.”
  The official also said there were 22 scholarships under U.S Achievers’ Programme, “which recognises academically stellar students, who come from economically disadvantaged backgrounds...”
Mixed reactions over merits, demerits of the rising trend
Watchers of the scenario believe that with the flow of student traffic from Nigeria to other nations on the upswing, brain drain is also top on the list of what is lost by the country. This is so because some of the youths elect to stay behind upon completion of their studies.
  But Miss Larry-Izamoje believes that, “The main thing we lose as a country is the money because of the tons of investment Nigerians make in the educational systems abroad. It is expensive to school abroad. But we gain a global view and are ready players in today’s high-tech, dynamic and ever challenging society. We get a first hand grasp of developments in the advanced economies and the possible opportunities for our society. If those in the Diaspora can easily contribute or return, with their exposure and knowledge, our country will be better.”
 A director of ForwardLeap Consultants Limited, a Manchester, United Kingdom-based outfit, accredited agent for the Cambridge Education Group and the Study Group- (two of the world’s leading education providers across Australia, Europe and North America), Mr. Babatunde Modupe-Ojo, seems to agree with Miss Larry-Izamoje.
  “Human migration is a reality of the global world that we now live in. The present upswing with respect to Nigeria is not unique to the country. It is still a child’s play when compared to the statistics available on countries like China, India and Indonesia etc. The positive impacts of such migration are the cross fertilisation of ideas, knowledge and best practices. It is hoped that when the majority of Nigerians who have been abroad to study return home, then they will contribute immensely to the development of Nigeria in all ramifications, provided, the government ensures that enabling environment is created for such talents to blossom.
  Modupe-Ojo, a lawyer, whose outfit has access to about 500 universities around the world continued, “Education and knowledge exchange have become international commodities. It serves the long-term interest of Nigeria to allow the free flow of these commodities, in that the benefits of education generally cannot be internalised by the beneficiaries only. The society at large benefits immensely from a highly educated populace through cross fertilisation of ideas and best practices in all fields of human endeavour. There is really nothing to lose from the trend of Nigerian students seeking education abroad.
  “The verifiable benefits of schooling abroad are many. One can point to exposure to high standards of teaching and research, particularly in the sciences, benefits from quality facilities, networking with fellow students that would pay high dividends in future, etc. Perhaps, the demerits are mainly the tendency for the gullible students to want to imbibe foreign culture and attitudes, which may not be beneficial to the Nigerian society,” he added.
   On people staying back especially in the UK after studies, Sephora Imomoh, a project manager with British Council, Lagos, said, “People who choose to study in the UK independently, are responsible for their decision making. But for some of the schemes that we run including the Commonwealth Scholarship and Chevening Scholarship, we track them because they are required to come back and help to develop their communities. There are a number of these UK school’s alumni that are contributing to the Nigerian economy. So while we track those that the UK government funds to study abroad, we don’t track those that go there to study independently.”
  Imomoh added: Apart from monies going out, some also come in by way of scholarships, which are also offered to Nigerians to study in the UK. We are also thinking along the line of forging partnerships with Nigerian institutions with a view to developing the Nigerian education system as well. So, it should be made clear that through some of the programmes that we run like the Commonwealth Scholarship and the Chevening Scholarship, the British Council is bringing back some kind of investment into the country.”
  Imomoh is, however, of the opinion that the UK is irresistible for international students because of its “strong reputation for research, innovation and creativity. UK universities and colleges attract some of the world’s leading academics and industry professionals. Students are encouraged to express their own ideas and think for themselves.”
  Even though Imomoh failed to pointedly address how viable the Nigerian education market is to the British Council, and indeed how much Nigerian imports were contributing to oiling the education system in the UK, Director Programme, Nigeria, Louisa Waddingham, gave a hint to that effect when she informed, “A whole lot of money goes out helping to fund education in the UK. Universities in the UK have to make money to be able to operate as they are not funded by any formal grant. In the UK, everybody pays for post-secondary school education. So, in that regards, Nigeria contributes a lot to education in the UK alongside other students from other parts of the world and British students as well. So everybody pays for tertiary education in the UK because the colleges, which have a high reputation for research, creativity and innovation cannot run without adequate funding. Without funding coming from these students, living up to the standards to deliver what the world economy needs would be very difficult.
  “The UK education sector has always had a very strong interest in the Nigerian context and every year, we have a lot of institutions wanting to come here to meet with the students and their parents, and do what they can to support Nigeria’s educational development.
  “There is also an increasing interest of British institutions to work in Nigeria as well and I think that is something that the British Council really wants to look. Given how many people that are in Nigeria, in addition to bringing people to the UK, we really need to see what the UK can do in Nigeria in the education context here to support people’s development,” she stated.
Ponzi schemes/ money spinning machines
Until lately, not very many parents ever sat down to appraise the financial losses they could be subjected to if they fall into the traps set by rogue agents, who pose as education consultants with bountiful connections to many foreign-based varsities and colleges.
 In other words, it is not for lack of what to say that a cleric, Elder Gabriel Fasanu, warned parents to be conscious of whom they deal with in the ever-expanding international education market.
 Fasanu, Principal, Babcock University Schools, Ogba, Lagos, speaking recently in Lagos observed that many unsuspecting parents have been fleeced by wolves in sheep clothing as they attempt to send their wards abroad to obtain the Golden Fleece.
 He therefore, urged them to be wary of charlatans and fraudsters who pose as recruitment agents to international schools
  Unlike Miss Larry-Izamoje, who is back in the country enjoying the fruits of her labour, Adesina Amu and his parents are in and out of court room attempting to get justice, after they were conned by an “agent” who claimed he had the capacity to organise admission for any student, qualified or not, in any school, including those in the farthest part of the earth.
 Ibe Isiguzo runs Lagos-based Harlem Consult, which also claims to have the capacity to facilitate admission into at least 20 United Kingdom-based universities and colleges, which his outfit allegedly has partnerships with.
  A close interaction with Isiguzo, a National Diploma holder from a Nigerian polytechnic gives him out as one that is yet to master his “job,” but knows enough to earn a living conning others or capitalising on their ignorance to feather his nest.
  “I have been in this business for nearly 10 years and some of my clients are back in the country on completion of their studies. They are working in big companies in Nigeria, where they are well paid,” he claims.
  Asked to volunteer the contacts of any two of those he has helped secure admission for in the past, whether they were domicile in Nigeria or abroad for confirmation of his claims, he declined insisting that it would amount to intruding into the privacy of his clients.
 The family of 21-year-old Ifeoluwa Akindele is in court with Isiguzo, after he failed to facilitate their ward’s admission into a London-based tertiary institution. Attempts to get a refund peacefully proved abortive and both parties after immense circumlocution landed in a Lagos court to trash out matters.
 Ghanaian educational consultants/entrepreneurs have continued to make incursions into different parts of the country to recruit prospective students. Hamart Ventures, a Ghanaian business concern is one of the firms that scouts and arranges admission for Nigerian students in Ghana for a fee.
  Its Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Mr. Martins Amo-Ayesu, to date, has visited Nigeria, Benin Republic, South Africa, Togo and few other countries on the continent plying his trade.
  Amo-Ayesu, who has visited about 25 states in Nigeria, has found the country to be a very fertile ground for his business because of Nigerians insatiable appetite for higher education.
  The Ghanaian, who is fully aware of the sharp practices of some of his compatriots, who are in the same line of business is, however, quick to warn Nigerian parents and guardians about the existence of fake agents and unaccredited schools in his country.
  “It is not all tertiary institutions in Ghana that are accredited and licensed to operate. This has been a challenge to those of us in this line of business. So, I would advise Nigerian parents that before they send their wards to school in Ghana, they should always inquire about the schools from relevant authorities,” Amo-Ayesu cautioned.
  The Ghanaian, who has successfully recruited over 5, 000 Nigerian students and placed them in different universities in Ghana, in collaboration with the institutions added, “In January this year, I was able to process admission for 155 students from Cross River State alone and over 500 recruited from Nigeria within this period and they have all been admitted into colleges in Ghana.”
  He continued, “Three years ago while visiting a friend in Nigeria, I discovered that most Nigerian parents have been duped one way or the other by fake agents. The fake agents do this by extorting large sums of money with a promise to get their victims’ children admitted into higher institutions in Ghana only to disappear into thin air.”
He lamented that the activities of these rogue agents, has caused genuine agents misery as many parents now tar the genuine agents with the same brush as the criminally minded ones.
  His words, “We have been having our little challenges because most of the agencies who started recruiting students from Nigeria to Ghana have caused a lot of havoc here. I always tell parents that because fraudsters have caused a lot of havoc in the admission process, it does not mean that getting admission into schools in Ghana is that difficult.
 “The minimum entry point that is required of the prospective students is credit passes in six subjects including Mathematics and English Language in their O’ Level examination. Once any child has this type of result, he is assured of admission into any accredited Ghanaian tertiary institution. Unfortunately, “so many parents have paid over N200, 000 just to purchase admission forms from fraudulent agencies when in actual fact, these forms should never cost that much. So, we help parents to find the right school for their children and at very reasonable cost because they do not have to go through the tedious process they are going through before securing admission for their children.”
  Evidence of the booming trade that acquiring tertiary education in Ghana has become is finding expression in the spread that firms like Hamart Ventures are enjoying.
 Project manager, British Council, Lagos, Adetomi Soyinka, says the British Council is aware of the existence of rogue agents and was doing its best to sift the grain from the chaff. 
  “Anywhere you have products and services being sold and bought, you are bound to get these kinds of things happening be it in India, China or wherever. So for us, we have a network of agents and we ensure that they are properly trained because these are people that interact with the public.
  “Once upon a time, the British Council used to have a students’ counseling service, where people walk up to get information about schooling in the UK. Now, we no longer have the capacity to do that. So what we have done now is to put in place a six to eight weeks online certification programme for our agents, regardless of where they are operating from.
  “The course content ensures that the agents are updated on the changes in the education system within the UK. So, at the end of the online programme, the agents write an examination and if they pass, they are put on our global agents’ database. So if people are requesting for information about education in the UK, we refer them to these people who have the right information to give to members of the public. These are the agents we deal with. Beyond that, the agents themselves are trying hard to clean up the market because they know that some rogue agents have put their collective reputation at stake.
  “So, what they do is that they have formed an association -the Nigerian Association of UK Education Agents. They meet on a regular basis with a view to cleaning up the market themselves. Most importantly, they constantly watch out for rogue agents amongst them and take prompt action if they find any of such within their fold,” she stated.
  “Also, UK institutions come to us to inquire about these agents that have taken the course and if they can deal with them directly. We always direct these institutions to check with the association. For us, these are some of the little checks and balances we are putting in place to ensure sanity and protect the reputation of the agents in Nigeria because it is a huge market,” the project manager stated.
  In lending her voice to this, Miss Larry Izamoje agrees that some of these educational agencies are run by unethical and shrewd businessmen, reason why hidden charges, which were not disclosed at the initial stage begin to pop up thereby jolting the students.
  To guard against this, she says, “I believe the processes should be made available for scrutiny. On no account should any one partner with unethical institutions. Ask questions; be clear about what is offered, and who you are dealing with. Any one identified should be reported to the relevant authorities to minimise or completely eliminate these issues.
 “There is a lot to worry about especially when parents and prospective students are not sure of the validity of these institutions. It is imperative that they check the legality and capability of every educational agency by being fully aware of their links with institutions or universities abroad. They must get as much information as possible from students, who have graduated from foreign institutions and question the legal standings of these firms if in doubt. Parents should check if the firms are registered companies, whether they do conform to educational rules as laid down by the government. Most importantly, they must be sure of agencies and institutions before allowing children to fill their forms. Definitely. It is imperative for parents and/or guardians who want their children to school aboard to check how authentic what they get and what they are told are before making any decisions. Thankfully, Nigeria has a pool of authentic institutions that are directly aligned with very good universities abroad.

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