Atiku Accuses Tinubu Govt of Neglecting 1,600 Nigerian Students Abroad after BEA Scholarship Ends
- Former vice president Atiku Abubakar accused the Tinubu administration of abandoning Nigerian students abroad following the suspension of BEA scholarship scheme
- Atiku alleged that stipends were unpaid between late 2023 and 2025, cut by 56 per cent in 2024, which left students in severe financial distress
- He described the government’s handling of the programme as a breach of Nigeria’s diplomatic obligations
Legit.ng's Muslim Muhammad Yusuf is a 2025 Wole Soyinka Award-winning journalist with over 8 years of experience in investigative reporting, human rights, politics, governance and accountability in Nigeria.
Former vice president Atiku Abubakar has faulted the administration of President Bola Tinubu over what he described as the neglect of Nigerian students studying abroad under the Bilateral Education Agreement (BEA) scholarship scheme.
In a statement shared on his official X account, Atiku said the BEA programme, which enables Nigerian students to pursue undergraduate and postgraduate studies in partner countries, was discontinued without adequate notice to students or their families, leaving about 1,600 beneficiaries stranded overseas.
Source: Facebook
According to him, the scholarship scheme, which began in 1993 and was revitalised in 1999, was initially described as being suspended for five years but later degenerated into outright abandonment.
Atiku Abubakar alleged that students under the programme did not receive stipends between September and December 2023, while their monthly allowances were reduced by 56 per cent in 2024—from $500 to $220—before payments were stopped entirely. He further claimed that no stipends were paid throughout 2025.
"I have been well briefed on how Nigerian students under the Bilateral Education Agreement, BEA, have been abandoned abroad.
‘Their pleas are simple and desperate: pay the stipends owed, now more than $6,000 per student. Yet from the corridors of power came a cold, technocratic explanation: scarce public funds must be managed “responsibly,” and money meant to keep these students alive abroad should instead be redirected home."
He said affected students are now owed more than $6,000 each in unpaid allowances, adding that government officials justified the decision by citing the need to manage scarce public funds and redirect resources to domestic priorities.
No payment in 2025, Atiku alleges
The former vice president said the situation had led to severe hardship among the students, including hunger, mounting rent arrears and emotional distress.
Atiku lamented that there was no payment throughout the whole of 2025, leaving students to live their days in perpetual hunger, rising rent arrears, and shame.
He also referenced reports that one Nigerian student in Morocco died in November last year, allegedly as a result of the hardship associated with the unpaid stipends.
‘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." He said.
Atiku noted that parents and students had staged protests in Abuja at the ministries of Education and Finance, demanding the settlement of outstanding allowances, but said their concerns remained unresolved.
Source: Twitter
Atiku criticises education minister
He also criticised a statement attributed to the Minister of Education, Dr Maruf Olatunji Alausa, in which students who were “fed up” were reportedly advised to return to Nigeria, describing the remark as “expulsion by neglect.”
“The BEA scheme was never a charity, it was a diplomatic arrangement designed to build Nigeria’s human capital through partnerships with countries such as China, Russia, Morocco and Hungary." Atiku said.
He concluded by urging the federal government to honour its obligations to the affected students, saying the continued suspension of the programme had undermined Nigeria’s commitments and left young scholars uncertain about their future.
FG reacts to claim it abandoned Nigerian students
Earlier, Legit.ng reported that the federal government rejected reports suggesting that Nigerian students studying in Morocco under a bilateral scholarship scheme were abandoned or denied funding.
Education authorities described the circulating claims as misleading and deliberately crafted to distort public understanding.
In a post on its official social handles, the Education ministry clarified that every beneficiary admitted into the Bilateral Education Scholarship programme before 2024 received payments up to the approved 2024 budget cycle.
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Proofreading by Funmilayo Aremu, copy editor at Legit.ng.
Source: Legit.ng
