Erudera.com, a higher education search platform, has said the number of Nigerians studying in the United States of America increased by about 93 per cent in the last 10 years.

According to Gent Ukëhajdaraj from Erudera, what the 93% increase meant was that from 2015/16 to 2019/20, the number of these students increased by 28 per cent, while the most drastic increase of 557 per cent was from 1995/96 to 2019/20.

Ukëhajdaraj attributed the sharp increase to the reputation of US universities, their quality education, and the multi-cultural environment provided.

“Nigeria sending high numbers of students to the US for many years now shows the importance that studying in the United States has among these students, and not only, as the United States continues to keep the first spot in hosting more than one million international students from across the world,” Ukëhajdaraj said.

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Statistics showed that in 2018/19, Nigeria was listed the 11th place of origin of international students pursuing studies in the United States, which accounted for 1.2 per cent of the total number of international students in the country.

In 2017, Nigeria was ranked as the top source of African students in the United States. 

Reports also showed that there were 11,710 Nigerian students in the United States that year, an increase of 9.7 per cent from 2016.

“We really want more Nigerians to come and take part in our educational system. Through our Education USA Center in Calabar, we hope to have more students from Cross River going to the US to further their education,” Aruna Amirthanayagam, Country Public Affairs Officer, US Embassy, said during a formal opening of the Education USA Center.

Vanguard News Nigeria