Nigeria has one of the largest student populations in the Diaspora. In fact, not long ago, the Deputy Chief of Mission at the United States Embassy in Nigeria, Mr. James McAnulty confirmed that with over 6,500 students enrolled in American universities and colleges, ” Nigeria has recently become the country with the largest number of students who attend universities and high schools in the US.”
Parents have diverse reasons for sending their children overseas. One of the most common reasons is the country’s inconsistent education system. Another is the fact that tertiary education has become a big challenge for many families. “Getting admission into a good university in Nigeria is a Herculean task. Apart from the numerous entrance examinations, the spaces available are so few that, on the average, 100 children often queue for one space. Many children end up holding the short end of the stick and the experience is often very frustrating”, Wale Adisa, a parent, explained.
He also explained that inconsistent academic calendars drive parents to choose overseas education for their children. “With federal and state universities going on strike almost every month, students end up wasting a lot of time in school. For example, my first son spent 10 years in medical school because of strikes. And, I couldn’t send him to a private university because they did not have accreditation. So, we all had to endure. The only alternative would have been to send him abroad. This is what many parents are avoiding by sending their children abroad.”
Then, there are the less serious reasons of prestige and show-off. Adisa thinks some parents who can afford to send their children to any of the private universities in the country choose to send them abroad because they want the children to go to prestigious schools.
Whatever the reason, more Nigerians are going to school overseas every year. In fact, the country has become a major market for schools on every continent. Every year, universities and colleges from previously unpopular destinations like New Zealand, Ukraine, Malaysia and Kyrgyzstan come to the country to woo would-be students. So, while the country’s education continues to languish in confusion, the country is drained of critical talent and hard currency.
But the costs are far higher than the dollars. Many parents are paying more dearly for sending their children overseas. Quite a number of the children suffer psychological damage and end up becoming total strangers after a few years abroad. In more extreme cases, they become criminals or even die tragically. One of the most popular examples of such extremes is the rather sad case of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab.
The young man, who is on trial in the US for attempting to bomb a trans-Atlantic jet last Christmas, had spent the major part of his formative years as a student in overseas schools. Many quickly pointed to isolation as the weak point explored by his recruiters. But Abdulmutallab’s case may not be an isolated case. Many Nigerian students in the Diaspora are exposed to the same kind of situation that led to his present predicament with a large number becoming zealots or anti-socials. And, parents are counting the costs of educating them overseas in tears and pain.
Isa was an only child. So, his middle class parents spared no costs in raising him. He received the best primary and secondary education money could buy in Kaduna State where his parents had settled after their marriage over 20 years ago. And, he gave his parents little cause for worry as he progressed steadily. He however suffered a disappointing hitch after his secondary school certificate examination. Though he passed all his papers, he could not secure admission into his favourite university, the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. Competition was fierce and all the extra efforts by his parents failed woefully.
For the young man, the prospect of sitting at home for one academic session was terrifying. His frustration became so obvious that his parents became worried. Now, they could afford to send him to a private university, but he wanted to read medicine and they didn’t know of any private university with full accreditation to teach medicine. So, they turned their attention to the next best option; overseas education. With the decision taken, Isa spent almost every minute of the day on the Internet in search of admission. And in a matter of days, they had settled for one of the most prestigious universities in Egypt.
With admissions almost closing, everything was rushed and Isa became an undergraduate in Egypt. His first few weeks in school were not so palatable. This was obvious from the volume of correspondence he carried out in those weeks. He called his parents, cousins and friends almost every day! At the end of the first semester, he rushed home to the warm embrace of his family. Though he had grown a bit withdrawn, he looked okay to everybody.
Then, the holiday ended and he returned to Cairo. He left Abuja on an 8pm flight. When he failed to call the following morning, his parents felt he must have suffered jetlag after the four and half hour flight. But when he didn’t call later in the day; his mother decided to call him. The call went unanswered. And, when she didn’t get any response much later, she panicked. She called every hour after that. Two days later, somebody picked the call and told the distraught mother that Isa was not feeling fine. The person at the other end told her “Isa has been sleeping since he landed in Cairo.”
Alarmed, she caught the next available flight to Cairo. Unfortunately, she was too late. Isa died a few hours before she got to Egypt. And, according to medical reports, he died from heroin overdose. The news devastated everybody at home. In spite of the devastation, many could not but wonder how Isa, a very religious young man, could have anything to do with heroin.
Isa’s story is just another extreme story from the Diaspora. He missed home terribly and was unhappy. Being lonely and sad, he turned to a small group of Nigerian students who seemed happy enough. And, the group introduced him to the source of their happiness: drugs. He paid with his life and took his parent’s dreams away. His comrades in drugs are still in Egypt and they are not likely to stop using drugs. They are just part of the costs of overseas education.
Like Abdulmutallab, other Nigerian students seek solace in religion. Quite a number of these children have become time bombs; the right detonation at home or abroad may just set them off. And, like Isa, others experiment with alcohol and drugs in their desperation to beat loneliness and frustration.
“As bad as things are in this country, home is always home. When you leave Nigeria, you will always miss home. Every little thing makes you crave home. There is no way you will not feel out of place or discriminated against. If you ask people who are forced to stay away from the country, they would tell you how sad it could be. And, when you send a child to school abroad, he is forced to stay there until he completes his education. So, it can be very frustrating. And, because they are children, they cannot handle the situation well. They look for solution in the wrong places and end up damaging themselves physically and psychologically”, Adisa, offered.
Mrs. Monica Awopeju, another parent, believes culture shock is one other price most students in the Diaspora pay. “You know, in their desperation to go overseas, many children end up in some of the most dangerous cities in the world. They suffer culture shock and become different people entirely. These children hide their new characters from their parents; only those with extreme problems become manifest. You will be surprised to know that many need psychiatric help when they return. Even when they hide successfully, it does not change the fact that they have become damaged products”, she said.
And, this seems to be the bottom line. A number of the children who go to school abroad are damaged one way or the other. Whether it is mere culture shock or the more extreme cases, they suffer one way or the other. Their families, and ultimately the nation, share their agonies. And, these are the real costs of overseas education.
Taiwo Olawale
This Day