Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has criticised the Federal Government for abandoning 1,600 Nigerian students studying abroad under the Bilateral Education Agreement (BEA) scholarship programme.
He made the statement in a post on his X account on Sunday.
Atiku’s comments come as Nigerian BEA students in Morocco report unpaid stipends.
What Atiku said
The Former Vice President alleged that the programme was quietly discontinued under the current administration without adequate communication to parents or consideration for the students already enrolled, with each student being owed more than $6,000 in unpaid stipends.
He disclosed that the students’ monthly stipends, which were originally $500, were not paid at all in 2025.
“Between September and December 2023, the students were not paid, and in 2024, stipends were slashed by 56%, from $500 to $220 a month, before stopping altogether. There was no payment throughout the whole of 2025,” he stated.
Atiku said that despite repeated pleas from students and their parents, the government focused on policy rather than helping the people affected.
What was initially described as a temporary five-year suspension to the program soon metamorphosed into outright abandonment with empty pockets and fading hope.
He noted that this has forced students into daily struggles with hunger, rent arrears, and social stigma. Atiku also highlighted the human cost, citing the death of a student in Morocco who did not survive the ordeal, dying in November 2025.
Neglect of scholars
Atiku, speaking on the recent statement by the Minister of Education that students who “fed up” could return home, described the position as expulsion by neglect.
He argued that the position reduced years of academic effort to a minor administrative issue and amounted to expulsion by neglect.
He said many parents interpreted the stance as Nigeria abandoning its brightest students abroad and exposing them to embarrassment among peers from African countries that continue to honour their international obligations.
Atiku highlighted that the BEA programme was never a charity but a diplomatic initiative designed to develop Nigeria’s workforce, revitalised in 1999 through partnerships with countries including China, Russia, Morocco, and Hungary.
“Today, that pact lies broken, and across distant campuses, Nigerian scholars wait, not just for stipends, but for a sign that their country still remembers them,” he said
What you should know
In March 2025, the Union of Nigerian Bilateral Education Agreement Scholars (UNBEAS) called on the federal government to address delayed stipends and the 56% cut in payments affecting Nigerian students studying abroad.
- According to the union, from September to December 2023, no stipends were paid, and when payments resumed in 2024, monthly allowances were cut sharply from $500 to $220 before eventually stopping altogether.
- In April 2025, the federal government announced the official discontinuation of the BEA scholarship programme, describing it as an inefficient use of public resources and saying many of the courses pursued abroad are available in Nigerian universities and polytechnics.
- The government had said current beneficiaries would complete their studies, but no new awards were to be made under the BEA scheme.
- Similar complaints emerged last week from Nigerian scholars in Morocco, who say they have not received their BEA scholarship stipends.
Nairametircs reports that contrary to the supposed end of the scholarship program, the federal government set aside N1.764 billion in the 2026 Appropriation Bill to fund 300 fresh scholarships for Nigerians under the Bilateral Education Agreement (BEA) programme.
