Russia-Ukraine War and Nigerian Migrant Students in Ukraine: Effects and Recommendations

Abstract

Due to the incessant strike by ASUU (Academic Staff Union of Universities), a lot of Nigerian students left the shores of Nigeria from 2000 to pitch their academic tent in Ukraine. A lot of them went into medical sciences and engineering as some were sponsored by parents and relations and others were on scholarship by the state government, federal government and non-governmental agencies. Before the Russia-Ukraine war which started on 24th February, 2022, there were about 12,000 Nigerian students studying in various universities in Ukraine. However, prior to the war a lot of Nigerians were not aware that Ukraine was a receptacle of Nigerian students. This study sets out to examine the impact of the outbreak of the Russia - Ukraine war on Nigerian migrant students studying in Ukraine, after delving into the reasons for the migration. The data contained in this study is gleaned mainly from the internet. The push-pull theory by Lee is used to display the link between migration of Nigerian students and what attracted them. The argument of this paper is that as a result of the lip service paid by the federal government to education a lot of Nigerians left Nigeria for Ukraine, making them to be negatively affected during the invasion of Ukraine by Russia. Findings reveal that despite the corruption and decrease in quality in Ukrainian tertiary education, Nigerians still trooped to Ukraine. This study recommends that the Nigerian government should pump adequate funds into revitalization of the university system and improve on the working conditions of university workers. This will stem the tide of incessant strike.