The number of Nigerian students studying in the United States rose to 17,640 in the 2022/2023 academic session despite rising foreign exchange scarcity in the country.

This is a 37.17 per cent increase in the number of Nigerian students in 2022/2023 from the 12,860 that moved in the 2020/2021 session, and a 22.18 per cent increase from the 14,438 that moved in the 2021/2022 session according to data from the new Open Doors Report, published by the Washington-based Institute of International Education.

The total number of international students in the US grew to 1.06 million in the academic year, which is a 12 per cent increase from the previous year. The total number of students from sub-Saharan Africa was 50,199 in the year under review.

35.14 per cent of the total population of sub-Saharan African students in the US are Nigerians. International students only make up a small percentage (5.6 per cent) of the total number of students enrolled in the US (18.96 million) as of the 2022/2023 session.

This rise in the migration of Nigerian students to the US is amidst a forex scarcity crisis in the country. According to experts, many Nigerians are leaving the country due to the challenging economic reality of the country.

Recently, an intending migrant told The PUNCH, “The day I went for my visa interview, there were about a hundred people there.”

The Founder of Travels N Tours, Biola Abimbola, further affirmed, “Yes. More people want to travel now because the state of the economy is bad and the youths are looking for where there are opportunities, especially the middle class. The problem is that more people are leaving than ever before.”

Nigerians spent about $1.01bn on foreign education in 2022 according to a The PUNCH report. This is a 40.36 per cent increase from the $720.05m that was spent in 2021.