Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has accused President Bola Tinubu’s administration of neglecting Nigerian students studying overseas under the Bilateral Education Agreement (BEA), leaving around 1,600 students stranded without support.
In a statement yesterday, Atiku said the BEA scholarship scheme, which began in 1993 and was revitalised in 1999, was quietly discontinued without informing parents or students already midway through their studies abroad. He described the program as a “diplomatic bridge” that is now broken.
“What was initially described as a temporary five-year suspension soon metamorphosed into outright abandonment,” Atiku said, noting that students have been left without stipends, with outstanding allowances now running into thousands of dollars per student.
Atiku highlighted that between September and December 2023, stipends were unpaid, before being reduced by 56% in 2024—from $500 to $220 per month—and eventually halted entirely. No payments have been made throughout 2025.
“Their pleas are simple and desperate: pay the stipends owed, now more than $6,000 per student,” he said. He added that hunger, rent arrears, and shame have become daily realities for the beneficiaries, citing the death of a student in Morocco in November 2025 as a tragic example.
Atiku also criticised remarks attributed to the education minister, suggesting students who were “fed up” could be financed to return home, calling it “expulsion by neglect.” He urged the government to reassure Nigerian scholars abroad that their country has not forgotten them.
Parents and students had reportedly protested in Abuja, appealing to the ministries of education and finance for answers, but these appeals, Atiku said, were largely ignored.
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