The Federal Government has pledged to settle outstanding obligations totaling N8bn to Nigerian students previously enrolled in the defunct Bilateral Education Agreement scholarship scheme. The Minister of Education, Tunji Alausa, disclosed this during a television interview on Tuesday, noting that the program was canceled due to excessive abuse and fraudulent activities. Alausa explained that the government has already released N4bn while the remaining balance is expected to be cleared within a short period.
Regarding the payment schedule, Alausa said: "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." He noted that upon taking office, he discovered the magnitude of the mismanagement within the program. He specifically mentioned a request to approve N650m for 60 students heading to Morocco, which included suspicious academic placements.
The minister stated: "650 million for 60 students? And as I was looking at the courses that were going to go to Morocco, we have Nigerian scholarship given to a student that will go study English in Morocco, a French-speaking country. Had so many of those courses, psychology, sociology, zoology, botany." He emphasized that the scheme was originally intended for specialized training in fields such as aeronautics, medicine, and engineering, but it eventually morphed into a general education subsidy that was no longer justifiable.
Alausa also revealed that some beneficiaries were found to be enrolled in local Nigerian institutions while simultaneously receiving foreign scholarship payments. He remarked: "We also had incidences of kids that got this scholarship that they’re studying in Nigerian universities, getting the money. So, we stopped it." The scholarship involved partnerships with several countries, including Russia, China, Algeria, Hungary, Egypt, and Serbia. The annual budget for servicing these agreements reportedly grew from N3.2bn in 2022 to N8bn by 2025.
Before the scheme was formally scrapped in April 2025, many scholars experienced significant financial hardships. Between September 2023 and August 2024, no payments were made to the beneficiaries. When funds were eventually disbursed in late 2024, the stipends were reduced by over 56 per cent. These delays led to reports of students being evicted from their hostels and restricted from accessing essential university services abroad.
Although the program was officially terminated, affecting over 1,200 students, a provision of N1.7bn appeared in the 2026 Appropriation Bill. The Federal Government has clarified that this amount represents a procedural budgetary rollover rather than a return to the scholarship policy. The government maintained that the primary focus is now on clearing the backlog of debts owed to the stranded students to ensure they are fully settled according to the original commitment.
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