The unprecedented depreciation of the national currency, the naira, against the dollar and other major international currencies is causing widespread distress, particularly for individuals planning international travels and financing the education of their children and wards abroad.
The parents are grappling with the impact of the naira fall as expenses surge, leading to a sharp increase in the cost of funding their children’s education abroad due to unfavourable exchange rates.
On Thursday, the currency fell to a low of N1,400.09/$, its second time hovering above N948 at the official FX window. On January 26.
Recently, the World Bank noted, “However, there is also a need to increase FX supply in the market. Facilitating FX flows, especially from all exports, through the NAFEM can help provide additional volumes in the official window that can help provide stability. In addition, clarity on the CBN’s net reserve position, and on the CBN’s continued progress in clearing the FX backlog, would also strengthen market confidence.”
Parents in a fix
For a Lagos-based businesswoman, Mrs Busola Adeyinka, whose two children are in universities in the United States, the high exchange rate has put her under a lot of pressure.
Her older son, who is at the 200-level at a university in California, will need nothing less than $43,843 for tuition alone.
With the current exchange rate, she said she would have to spend at least N38m just to clear his tuition.
She also noted that her second son, who just completed his A-levels in the US, also gained admission at another university in the state to study Pharmacy.
She said, “Their school fees put together are provided by me alone. Their father has since passed away. I am a businesswoman. I make my money through business. With the dollar almost hitting N1,500 how do we manage?
“If not that the other one has already gained admission, I would have withdrawn him to a university in Kenya or South Africa. The reason I took them there is to avoid the many crises we have come to know as normal in the Nigerian university system. I wanted them to have a smooth ride. As it is now, I don’t know what to do in January.
“I have, however, applied for forex through a friend who has a similar problem and we are looking at how we can manage to pay up. It is a confusing period for me as a parent; the government needs to help me.”
Another parent, who recently retired from the Nigerian Television Authority but did not want to be named, told one of our correspondents that her daughter had just been admitted to study Finance in the US.
She noted that sourcing forex with the current exchange rate had been difficult.
She stated, “It has been hellish for me. If not for my daughter suffering to gain this admission after four years of staying at home, I would have let it go. I am breaking the bank. It is just so sad that the naira does not have value.
“I schooled in the UK during my time, and I tell you that it was not that bad. The naira was strong. The government needs to do something about the problem. There should be an intervention of some sort for people like us so that we will be able to survive this exchange rate regime.”
The father of a 300-level medical student in the US, Mr Olabode Rotimi, said he was tired of appealing to the government to make the exchange rate better.
Students lament
When the naira was floated in June, Nigerian students in the United Kingdom complained that they were struggling to pay their fees. A Nigerian student resident in Manchester, Deborah Adejoro, had said, “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 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 complained, “Now, they (parents) have to start looking for more money because the rate has gone up. If the official rate is not different from the street rate, what’s the essence of waiting for several weeks for your bank when you can just get it from a third-party platform? It has only put more pressure on the students to look for more money.”
A student, studying IT Project Management at Teesside University, lamented, “Some people are not stable because they used to convert their naira to pounds for school fees payment.”
Another Nigerian student (name withheld), who is studying at Strathclyde University, explained that the new exchange rate might cause him to drop out of school, saying, “This new reality has called for a review of the whole plan entirely. Everything has to reset at the end of the year.
“My year is ending in October/November but I now have to review everything. I am running a PhD programme and the cost is £20,000 a year. When we were using Form ‘A’ and the official rate was about N600, it was about N11m.”
