The Federal Government has stopped funding part of the Bilateral Education Agreement (BEA) scholarship programme, saying it is no longer justified to spend hundreds of millions of naira sending Nigerian students abroad to study courses that are already available in Nigerian tertiary institutions.
The Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, disclosed that shortly after assuming office, his ministry received a proposal to spend N650 million to sponsor 150 Nigerian students to Morocco for one year.
According to Alausa, the proposal was rejected because the students would first have to spend an additional year learning French before beginning their academic programmes. He noted that the courses they planned to study were already available in Nigerian universities and other tertiary institutions.
The minister argued that the same N650 million could support thousands of Nigerian students if invested in local education rather than being spent on a relatively small number of students studying abroad.
Speaking in Abuja during the unveiling of the Tertiary Institutions National Laureate Prize, Alausa questioned the rationale for sending Nigerian students to countries such as Morocco and Algeria to study programmes available locally.
He pointed out that both countries are French-speaking, yet some Nigerian students were being sponsored to study courses such as English, journalism and psychology there.
Alausa said the BEA arrangement might have been reasonable about two decades ago, when Nigeria had limited capacity in certain specialised fields. However, he maintained that Nigeria's tertiary education system has expanded considerably since then.
He described the Federal Government-funded component of the programme as an inefficient use of scarce public resources.
The minister clarified that the decision does not constitute a ban on foreign scholarships. Countries that are willing to continue offering scholarships to Nigerian students will still be allowed to do so.
He explained that the government's concern is specifically about using Nigerian public funds to finance programmes abroad when the educational benefits do not justify the cost.
The decision is also part of the Federal Government's broader effort to strengthen Nigerian tertiary institutions and make public spending on education more sustainable.
Alausa added that the newly introduced Tertiary Institutions National Laureate Prize would promote academic excellence, research and innovation across Nigeria's tertiary institutions.
The prize will cover six thematic areas and be open to universities, polytechnics, monotechnics and colleges of education in the federal, state and private sectors.
The selection process will begin at the institutional level before progressing to the zonal and national stages, with measures in place to ensure that only verified and original projects are considered.
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