The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has blamed the consistent fall of the naira on the large sum of $39.6bn spent by Nigerians on foreign education and medical tourism in 10 years (2010 to 2020).
While giving a breakdown, the CBN disclosed that $28.6bn was spent on foreign education while $11bn was spent on foreign medical trips during the period under review.
Olayemi Cardoso, the governor of the apex bank, stated this known during a recent presentation before the House of Representatives.
Cardoso said the figures which total almost $40bn have contributed to Nigeria’s foreign exchange crisis that has made the naira depreciate to over N1,400 at the official market.
The apex bank made provisions for school fees and healthcare at a CBN-approved rate.
According to Cardoso, recent data reveals there are major changes in the demand for PTA for payment of school fees abroad compared to the early 1990s.
He quoted UNESCO Institute of Statistics data which reveals that the number of Nigerian students abroad increased from below 15,000 in 1998 to over 71,000 in 2015.
Cardoso said in 2018, the figure got 96,702 Nigerian students schooling around the world.
He explained that Nigerian students schooling abroad will exceed 100,000. UK’s Higher Education Statistics Agency forecasted a 64 percent increase in Nigerian study in the country, increasing from 1,320 in the 2009-2020 academic session to 21,305 by the 2020-2021 session.
Cardoso said: “Given this data, it is crucial to highlight that between 2010 and 2020, foreign educational expenses amounted to a substantial $28.65bn, as for the CBN publicly available balance of payment statistics.
“Similarly, medical treatment abroad has entered around $11bn in costs during the same period. Consequently, over the past decade, foreign exchange demand for education and healthcare has totaled nearly $40bn.
“Notably, this amount surpasses the total foreign exchange reserves of the CBN. Mitigating a significant portion of this demand could have resulted in a considerably stronger naira today.”
Also, Cardoso revealed plans to introduce a new foreign exchange operation mechanism for the operation of the Bureau de Change and tackle currency hoarding.
