Nigeria's Education Minister, Tunji Alausa, has declared that the number of Nigerian students travelling overseas for University education has dropped considerably, pushing back against widespread concerns that the "Japa" trend remains strong in the education sector.

Alausa made the remarks during a Channels Television interview on Tuesday, where he challenged a global report ranking Nigeria as the third largest source of international students in 2023, a period during which the country accounted for 5% of global outbound student movement, behind China and India.

The minister dismissed the figures as outdated, arguing they reflected conditions that no longer exist. "That's not Japa. And please, qualify your data. Thank God you told me it was a 2023 figure," he stated.

He explained that 2023 coincided with severe disruptions across Nigeria's tertiary education sector, including prolonged academic instability, irregular University calendars, and insufficient investment in higher Institutions. "2023 was when we came in. There was no academic continuity. They had the kind of extensive investment you've made in a tertiary education that wasn't there," he said.

Alausa disclosed that the Ministry of Education had been tracking outbound student movement through its educational support services department and had recorded what he described as a "precipitous drop" in departure numbers. "We've seen a precipitous drop in the number of students going out. Our tertiary Institutions are better now. We have academic continuity, academic session continuity," he added.

The minister pointed to the growing uptake of the Joint Universities Preliminary Examinations Board programme, known as JUPEB, as evidence that students were increasingly choosing local educational pathways. He noted that students who previously travelled abroad to complete A' Level equivalents were now remaining in Nigeria because domestic preparatory programmes had become more accessible and credible.

Rising competition for admission into top Institutions, including the law programme at the University of Lagos, was also cited by Alausa as an indicator of returning public confidence in Nigerian Universities. "Kids are staying there. The quality of education is significantly better. If you now compare the 2023 data with 2024 and 2025 and see the precipitous drop of Nigeria going out," he said.

His comments arrive amid sustained national debate over the "Japa" phenomenon, with international education analysts continuing to report high outbound mobility figures even as government officials argue that reforms are beginning to reverse the pattern.