ABUJA – Nigeria lost a total sum of $40 billion in 10 years funding foreign education, healthcare and medical tourism, the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Yemi Cardoso, disclosed on the floor of the House of Representatives on Tuesday.
This is just as the CBN boss noted that the country lost about $12.21 billion to food importation in 39 years.
The CBN chief disclosed these at the resumed sectoral debate series organised by the House of Representatives for Ministries, Departments and Agencies of government.
Daily Independent reports that in November 2023, the House invited heads of security agencies to commence the debate series, aimed at availing Nigerians of the strategies by the various MDAs to address the challenges facing the nation via the implementation of the 2024 budget.
He said,
“It’s crucial to highlight that between 2010 and 2020, foreign education expenses amounted to a substantial US$28.65 billion, as per the CBN’s publicly available balance of payments statistics. Similarly, medical treatment abroad has incurred around US$11.01 billion in costs during the same period. Consequently, over the past decade, foreign exchange demand for education and healthcare has totaled nearly US$40 billion.
“Notably, this amount surpasses the total current foreign exchange reserves of the CBN. Mitigating a significant portion of this demand could have resulted in a considerably stronger naira today.