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Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has criticised the Nigerian government for allegedly abandoning Nigerian students in Morocco, who are studying under the Bilateral Education Agreement (BEA) scholarship.
Mr Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2023 general election, also faulted the government for failing to pay the scholars’ stipends as and when due.
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He stated that the BEA scholarship scheme has enabled Nigerians to pursue undergraduate and postgraduate studies in various countries since its inception in 1993.
He also criticised the discontinuation of the BEA scholarship by the Nigerian government.
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Programme suspension
Mr Atiku claimed that the government had “quietly discontinued” the programme without notice.
However, the Ministry of Education last year announced a five-year suspension of the scholarship scheme following a review which found that most of the courses could be accessed locally.
The government also said existing beneficiaries would continue to receive full support until they complete their studies and return home.
Responding to claims that students had been abandoned, the ministry said all BEA beneficiaries enrolled before 2024 had received payments up to the 2024 budget year.
In a statement issued by the ministry’s spokesperson, Folasade Boriowo, the education minister, Tunji Alausa, said any outstanding payments were due to fiscal constraints.
“Any temporary delays in outstanding payments are attributable to fiscal constraints and are currently being addressed through ongoing engagements between the Federal Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Finance,” the statement quoted Mr Alausa as saying.
Unpaid stipends
The former vice president said that about 1,600 young Nigerians are stranded abroad with ‘empty pockets and fading hope’ as a result of the non-payment of their stipends.
He said the students have not been paid any stipend for 2025.
PREMIUM TIMES previously reported that the Nigerian BEA scholars in Morocco said they were owed four-month stipends dating back to 2023.
The President of the Union of Nigerian Bilateral Education Agreement Scholars, Bilal Aliyu, had said the scholars are owed $500 monthly stipends for September to December 2023, as well as $1,123 in exchange rate differential for six months, from March to August 2023.
For 2024, the scholars said they received $220 stipends instead of $500 without prior notification or justification, noting they were only informed of the reduction at the time of disbursement.
“I gathered that hunger, rent arrears, and shame have become the daily companions of the beneficiary students,” Mr Atiku said.
“In Morocco, one student did not survive the ordeal, dying in November last year and turning quiet suffering into public grief. Parents and scholars poured into the streets of Abuja, protesting before the Ministries of Education and Finance, their placards heavy with sorrow and rage, their questions unanswered.”
BEA Scholarship
The BEA scholarship is a diplomatic and mutual cooperation between Nigeria and some countries, which enables Nigerian students to pursue academic studies in partner countries such as China, Russia, Algeria, Hungary, Morocco, Egypt, and Serbia.
Through these agreements, host countries provide beneficiaries with free tuition, accommodation, and monthly stipends.
The Nigerian government also supports the scholars with take-off grants and monthly stipends throughout the study period and return passage upon successful completion of their programmes.
However, even before the recent situation, there had been several cases of Nigerian scholars lamenting the delay in the payment of their stipends by the Nigerian government.
