By Saheed Ibrahim

Behind the facade of prestigious education of Nigerian students abroad lie tales of financial strain and emotional turmoil as many of them struggle with huge debts hanging on their necks, The Hope has learnt.

The Hope gathered that many Nigerian international students borrowed huge amounts of money from family members, friends and banks to travel abroad for academic pursuit.

Despite their indebtedness, the students face pressure from home as debtors continue to demand repayment while family and friends demand financial support from them, The Hope gathered.

Some of the international students, who shared their stories with The Hope, lamented how difficult life has been after travelling abroad.

According to Abimbola Akande (not real name), who studies at Leeds University, she has a loan of about N10 million to repay in Nigeria.

She told The Hope that the four-hour daily working hour limit for students is not enough for her to raise money to repay her debt.

Asked how she has been surviving, she revealed, “I have to find ways to get jobs that I can do for many hours. I do some night jobs at some shops to raise funds, even though the money I am paid does not meet the wage limit, I have to take the jobs.”

She revealed that ironically, many of her friends and networks back home still demand money from her, thinking she is abroad and should be able to assist them financially.

In the United States of America, Olumide is still reeling from the burden of a N5 million loan he took to finance his journey and support his education in the US, despite being on scholarship.

He said he had to borrow to pay for his visa fee, flight and accommodation, a total sum running to about N6 million.

“From the stipend the school gives me, I pay for accommodation, groceries, transportation and other necessary expenses. I have to send 90% of the rest back home to pay part of my loan.

“Those who don’t know what we pass through here will still demand money and when you try to explain, they call you stingy. The pressure to meet academic demands and financial demands is tough on us but who cares to know?”

There have, however, been several claims that Nigerians travel abroad through the education route primarily to relocate abroad, especially to the UK, and not to study abroad.

A BBC interview with a Nigerian YouTuber, Emdee Tiamiyu is a pointer to this as Tiamiyu told BBC, “we’re beginning to see that a lot of people just hide behind the studentship. So the student thing is not real, it’s not like they need the degrees.”

Official records from the UK government showed that a fifth of UK student visas in 2022 went to Nigerians – 120,000 in total, with half for the students themselves and half for partners and children. Nigerians had more family visas for foreign students than any other nationality in the said year.

Recall that in February, the Belgium government said that many Nigerians are sleeping on Belgian streets in extremely cold weather.

There are earlier reports that many Nigerians studying in the UK sleep in university libraries and bus stops due to unsorted accommodation.

Information gathered from some students abroad by The Hope confirmed these claims.