You’ve heard about it all over the place and it’s definitely true when it’s said that Nigeria is rising and fast; due to the discovery of a widespread amount of oil fields the country is now the world’s tenth biggest oil supplier and this has seen GDP growth rise higher than every other country in the world in turn, breaking the 7% mark annually and eclipsing both the US at 2.8% and the UK at less than a meagre 1%. It’s no wonder that it’s also been estimated that Nigeria’s population will be the third highest in the world by the end of the 21st Century, Lagos, the nation’s financial hub, already has a huge population of over 21 million people.
So what does this mean for education? Well for one thing, it means that South Africa may end up being replaced as the continent’s strongest academic centre unless it gets its act together. For another thing, it means that families will see higher income; by 2020 it’s estimated that families will be bringing in over $5000 a year annually and middle class families will likely be earning over four times that. These amounts may not seem abnormally high but when you consider how little it costs to live in Nigeria, it’s a phenomenal amount and will see even the poorest families spending half of their money on non-food items and services, most likely an education for their children.
This money invested into the education sector by individuals, investors, the public and the government will likely see a revolution in academia as more schools spring up all across the region, indeed, there are almost 14,000 schools already in Lagos alone with around 2000 of these being public and many of these schools are seeing links being formed with schools in the UK. As you can imagine, this means that many recruitment and education specialist companies and groups are investing their time and energy into the country that has so much to offer and so little to lose.
SeekTeachers regularly places teachers into roles into Nigeria and has blown the competition out of the water lately with new links being built with schools in the region every day. If you’re a qualified western-trained teacher with a native grasp of the English language then SeekTeachers will be sure to place you, even if you’re an NQT, so go check out our jobs page now and see what positions we have available in Nigeria!
[ICEF: Nigeria - Rapid Growth and a Strategic Gateway to Africa]