EducationFG insists on scrapping of foreign scholarship Last updated: 16 May 2026 5:01 am By Breezynews Share 4 Min Read SHARE The Federal Government has insisted that there will be no reversal of the scrapping of the Bilateral Education Agreement (BEA) scholarship scheme, maintaining that the programme no longer serves the country’s interest.Speaking in an interview with Saturday PUNCH, the Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, said the government has sufficient capacity within its tertiary institutions to offer the same courses for which students were previously sent abroad under the scheme.The minister also questioned the rationale behind sending Nigerian students to countries where language and academic compatibility may pose challenges.He said, ‘There is no need for the programme. We have those courses here. It will cost government $10,000 for a student to study abroad courses that we have here. Let them study here. We can’t waste government money.‘That has been discontinued; the government is not going back on that. We have capacity. Nigerian education is better than some of these places. Some of these people go to Sudan, Niger Republic, and Morocco. How can a Nigerian be sponsored to go and study English in Morocco, a French-speaking country?’Alausa explained that the BEA scheme was conceived decades ago to promote academic exchange between Nigeria and partner countries at a time when local institutions lacked the capacity to offer specialised courses.He alleged that the programme had been plagued by abuse in recent years, noting that scholarships were being awarded for courses readily available in Nigerian universities.The minister further alleged that some beneficiaries collected funds without remaining in their host countries.‘The BEA was conceived many decades ago to facilitate exchange of students between countries that signed the agreement. At that time, we didn’t have many of those courses in Nigeria, especially in science, technology and engineering. But over the years, Nigeria’s tertiary education system has developed robustly. We now have virtually all those courses here.‘What we have now seen is that over the last 10 years there has been an abuse of the BEA. Students are sent to francophone countries like Morocco to study English, while others are sponsored to study mass communication or sociology, courses we already have in Nigeria’, he emphasised.Speaking further, he said, ‘We also have evidence that some of these students go there, collect the money, and are actually in Nigeria. It amounted to corrupt practices and the scheme was no longer meeting its objectives. That is why the Bilateral Education Agreement was cancelled’.Despite the cancellation, Alausa assured that the Federal Government would continue to meet its obligations to current beneficiaries until they complete their studies.Nigeria’s budget for servicing the scheme rose from N3.2 billion in 2022 to N8 billion in 2025, raising concerns within the government over sustainability.The Federal Government formally scrapped the programme in April 2025, while promising to pay for the students currently studying until they finished their programmes.Share this: Share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook Share on X (Opens in new window) X Like this:Like Loading… TAGGED:FGforeign scholarship Share This Article Email Copy Link Print Previous Article Nigeria secure gold, silver medals in African Championships relays Next Article U.S. Nigerian forces killed ISIS ‘most active terrorist in the world’, Trump announces Leave a CommentLeave a Reply Cancel replyYour email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *Comment *Name * Email * Website Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.
