The Federal Government has pledged to settle outstanding obligations to stranded Nigerian students under the scrapped Bilateral Education Agreement (BEA) scholarship programme with a total of N8 billion.
Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, disclosed this on Tuesday during an interview on Channels Television, stating that N4 billion had already been disbursed while the remaining N4 billion would be approved within the next two weeks.
“We’ve paid four billion of it. We’re disbursing the four billion now. This additional four billion will be approved. I’ve been in constant communication with Minister of Finance. It will be approved in the next two weeks. They will be settled,” Alausa said.
The minister explained that the BEA scheme, originally intended as a diplomatic tool to train Nigerian students in critical fields such as engineering, medicine, and aeronautics in partner countries including China, Russia, Morocco, and others, had been grossly abused and riddled with fraud.
Alausa cited examples of the abuse, including a request to approve N650 million to send 60 students to Morocco for courses like English language studies in a French-speaking country, as well as cases of beneficiaries studying psychology, sociology, and other non-priority courses.
He also revealed instances where students were collecting BEA funds while simultaneously enrolled in Nigerian universities.
The government formally scrapped the programme in April 2025, affecting over 1,200 students studying abroad. Many of the scholars had been stranded due to non-payment of allowances between September 2023 and August 2024, with later disbursements slashed significantly.
The minister noted that the N8 billion commitment represents the government’s effort to clear all outstanding payments to the affected beneficiaries.
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