THE MINISTER of Education, Tunji Alausa, has announced the approval of N8 billion for the settlement of outstanding obligations owed to Nigerian students under the now-scrapped Bilateral Education Agreement (BEA) scholarship scheme.
Alausa disclosed this Tuesday night during an interview on Channels Television. He said the intervention aimed at clearing arrears after months of delays that left several students stranded abroad without stipends.
He said half of the amount had already been released, while the remainder would be approved within 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,” he said.
The minister also defended the decision to discontinue the programme, arguing it had been weakened by mismanagement and diversion from its original purpose. He said the scheme was meant to support specialised training abroad but had expanded beyond its intent over time.
Alausa cited questionable approvals, including proposals to sponsor students for unrelated courses abroad.
He also decried cases where beneficiaries allegedly received funds while still enrolled in Nigerian universities, a situation he described as unacceptable.
The BEA scheme, which involved partnerships with countries such as China, Russia, Algeria, Hungary, Morocco, Egypt and Serbia supported hundreds of Nigerian students abroad before its suspension. Government spending on the programme reportedly rose from N3.2 billion in 2022 to N8 billion in 2025.
Meanwhile, the minister dismissed concerns that Nigeria was experiencing exodus of students to foreign universities, insisting that the trend had dropped significantly under the current administration.
He argued that recent investments in Nigeria’s tertiary education system were improving stability and made local institutions more attractive to students.
Responding to data suggesting that Nigeria was among the top countries for outbound student mobility in 2023, the minister described the figures as outdated and not reflective of present realities.
“That’s not Japa. And please, qualify your data. Thank God, you told me it was 2023 figure,” he said.
He explained that the 2023 period coincided with disruptions in the education sector, including instability in academic calendars and weak institutional support. According to him, the situation has improved since then.