He said: “This figure is extremely higher when adding the cost of other self-sponsored foreign education and I am using this medium to call on the Nigerian president elect to consider this as one of the immediate policies he will adopt in the first 100 days in office.

The Chairperson of the Commonwealth Youth Council, Ahmed Adamu, has urged Nigeria’s President-elect, Muhamudu Buhari, to abolish foreign scholarships in the country when he assumes office on May 29.

According to Adamu, who holds a PhD in economics, close to N100 billion is spent on foreign scholarships annually by Nigerian government.

He said this has caused over supply of the Nigerian currency, triggering the continued decline of the value of the Naira.

He said: “This figure is extremely higher when adding the cost of other self-sponsored foreign education and I am using this medium to call on the Nigerian president elect to consider this as one of the immediate policies he will adopt in the first 100 days in office.”

Adamu, in a statement issued on Saturday from London said Nigerians and other internationals studying in the United Kingdom contribute 2.3 per cent to the Gross Domestic Product growth in the UK and their patronages contribute 2.6 per cent to the overall employment in the country.

He maintained that the funds injected into foreign economies should be invested in Nigeria.

Adamu said: “How different are foreign Universities are from Nigerian Universities, you will talk about access to energy, IT, resources, facilities, conducive atmosphere, and efficiency. All these can be provided in all Nigerian Universities with the savings that will eventuate from abolishing foreign scholarships. If you divide N100 billion by the number of federal universities, you will see that each university will get N2.5 billion a year.”

He held that Nigerian universities can perform to the international standard if for five years N2.5 billion is injected in them annually and that those who were already trained abroad can teach in Nigerian universities.

The economist also said Buhari must cut down government’s expenditure by 50 per cent in one year and increase bank rate and taxes.

He said the extravagance and wastages during the political campaign had caused unnecessary inflation in Nigeria, which he claimed is now at 8.6 per cent  from 7.9 per cent in November.

Adamu said: “The money in circulation must be controlled. It is commendable that the president-elect has proposed to reduce government overheads by proposing to scrap unnecessary political appointments.

“All the money saved from the austerity measures should be invested in manufacturing and industrial sectors as well as education, science and technology. Small skills labourers should have a coordinated wage system, so that cost of production can be predicted, and small skill labourers who contribute immensely to the economic growth will not be underpaid.”