The federal government has pledged to pay a total of N8 billion in outstanding obligations owed to Nigerian students under the now-scrapped Bilateral Education Agreement (BEA) scholarship programme.
The Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, disclosed this on Tuesday during an interview on Channels Television, saying N4 billion has already been disbursed, while the remaining N4 billion will be approved within two weeks.
Also read: Lagos begins e-registration for 2025 model colleges
“We’ve paid four billion of it. We’re disbursing the four billion now. This additional four billion will be approved… It will be approved in the next two weeks. They will be settled,” he said.
The BEA scholarship scheme, which allowed Nigerian students to study abroad in partner countries, was formally scrapped by the federal government in April 2025.
According to Alausa, the programme had been significantly distorted over time and was no longer serving its original purpose.
He said a review of the scheme revealed what he described as widespread irregularities and questionable allocations.
“One of the first files placed before me exposed the scale of the abuse,” the minister said.
He cited an instance where N650 million was proposed for 60 students to study in Morocco, adding that some of the approved courses appeared inconsistent with the original intent of the programme.
“650 million for 60 students? … We have a Nigerian scholarship given to a student that will go study English in Morocco, a French-speaking country,” he said.
Alausa explained that the BEA scheme was originally designed as a diplomatic education arrangement for specialised fields such as engineering, medicine and aeronautics but had gradually expanded beyond its scope into a general overseas study subsidy.
He also revealed that some beneficiaries were found to be enrolled in Nigerian universities while still receiving BEA funds, a situation he described as unacceptable.
“We also had incidences of kids that got this scholarship; they’re studying in Nigerian universities, getting the money. So, we stopped it,” he said.
The BEA programme was previously run through agreements with countries including China, Russia, Algeria, Hungary, Morocco, Egypt and Serbia, supporting hundreds of Nigerian students abroad.
However, the scheme faced growing challenges in recent years, including delayed payments, reduced stipends, and reports of students being unable to pay fees or access accommodation due to funding gaps.
The government maintained that the cancellation of the programme does not affect the current budgetary provision for outstanding payments, describing it as a procedural arrangement to clear existing obligations.
Leave a Comment