Naira equivalent of tuition fees for Nigerian students living in the UK has increased by over 60 per cent following President Bola Tinubu’s decision to unify the nation’s multiple exchange rates.
The naira has fallen from N471/dollar to N750/dollar and N589.4/pound to N957.2-1015/pound since the Central Bank of Nigeria floated the Naira at the Investors and Exporters’ Window of the foreign exchange market.
Commenting on the development, a Nigerian student residing in Manchester, Adejoro Deborah told Punch;
“This policy is affecting those of us here and even intending students. My sibling has had to forfeit her admission because of this policy.
“Many students have fallen victim to online scammers just because they want to buy pounds, a friend of mine, for example, was a victim of third-party purchase as the banks at home are not dependable.”
Another Nigerian student studying in Leeds explained that the major challenge was that many kept their tuition fees in their naira account at the former rate.
The student said;
“Now they have to start looking for more money because the rate has gone up. If the official rate is not different from street rate, so what’s the essence of waiting for several weeks for your bank when you can just get it from third-party platform. It has only put more pressure on the students to look for more money.
“If you put N5m in your account in March when the rate was around N560/£, that means it will pay around £9k tuition fee, but by July, the N5m will only be able to pay around £5k since the rate is now around 1k/£, so that’s where the real problem is. You need to start looking for an additional £4k. That’s the challenges many students are facing.”
Another Nigerian, who is currently studying at Liverpool John Moores University, told the publication that he became stranded after the school withdrew his access to the school portal after failing to raise the required 4,800 pounds to complete his tuition.
The stranded student who revealed that he is only allowed to work for 20 hours a week as a student, added that he can’t get a better job.
