The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Godwin Emefiele, has blamed Nigerian students seeking foreign education for the persistent fall of the naira against other foreign currencies.
Emefiele made the disclosure during the 57th Annual Bankers Dinner, organized by the Chartered Institute of Bankers Nigeria (CIBN), in Lagos.
According to him, the number of student visas given to Nigerians by the United Kingdom rose from a yearly average of about 8,000 visas in 2020 to almost 66,000 in 2022, representing an eight-fold increase amounting to $2.5 billion yearly in study-related forex outflow to the UK alone.
He added that the move had greatly pressured Nigeria’s foreign reserves and the Naira in general.
