• Education minister says 85 lecturers ‘japaed’ as beneficiaries react to FG decision
By Fred Ezeh, Abuja
The Federal Ministry of Education recently announced the discontinuation of scholarship arrangements with foreign institutions for Nigerian scholars for some reasons. This brought the era of Bilateral Education Agreement (BEA) to an end.
The decision affected Commonwealth Scholarship Programmes and other exchange programmes with foreign institutions sponsored by Nigeria. But government said scholars in existing or running arrangements are not affected pledging to meet its obligations, financially and otherwise.
The Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) had earlier hinted on the discontinuation of its foreign scholarship opportunities, citing abuse and in some cases, outright abscondment.
BEA was designed to expose Nigerian scholars to the world education system, affording them the opportunities to acquire world-class education and skills in science, engineering and technical courses, some of which were lacking in Nigeria then.
BEA and other scholarships window supervised by the Federal Scholarship Board (FSB), started some decades ago. Annually, thousands of students were sent to different countries to study on the sponsorship of the Federal Government. Many Nigerians benefited by acquiring advanced education or sharpening their skills.
Reasons for the decision
Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, said: “Hence, it’s no longer justifiable to fund overseas studies with limited public resources when local alternatives exist and even better. The funds running in millions of dollars could be channelled in empowering local universities, expanding their infrastructures, and equipping them with necessary capacities to produce quality products.
“It is a move to realign Nigeria’s educational priorities. It also followed a thorough policy review aimed at consolidating national investment in domestic tertiary institutions.
“But it’s important to note that all current beneficiaries of the BEA programme will continue to enjoy full government support until the completion of their studies. We will honour all existing commitments. However, the Federal Government remains open to foreign governments offering fully funded scholarships to Nigerian students under bilateral or multilateral arrangements.
“But these offers must cover tuition, accommodation, transportation, living expenses, healthcare and provide a monthly allowance of no less than $500, without any financial obligation on the part of the Nigerian government.”
He later told a meeting of heads of tertiary institutions, Bursar and Directors procurement that 85 Nigerian scholars absconded after completing their sponsored programmes in various foreign countries.
Executive Secretary TETFund, Sonny Echono, said: “Effective from January this year, we officially suspended this foreign scholarship component of our intervention. Since then, we’ve been faced with the dilemma of also addressing some inherent challenges that the pandemic brings, including the fact that we all accept that knowledge is universal and if you close the doors to yourself, the tendency is that your rate of growth will be stunted.
“The second challenge is that, as we have witnessed very recently, there are emerging fields, new areas of knowledge, some not so new, but green fields in our country. For example, the aviation sector, where we do not have institutions running programmes applicable to that sector, locally. We have to see how we manage that ecosystem. So again, decisions that are taking up naturally have implications.
“We thought through all of these and took temporary measures while we adjusted as we moved along. But the overarching reason of ensuring that we also invest in our institutions, because a lot of those resources, when we send them out to the country, by the time we invest those same amounts in our faculties and departments, they would be able to improve their facilities, they would get the right quality of faculty, and they would also be able to develop their research and managerial capacity.
“So again, it’s something that you have to balance the cost-benefit analysis and see which roads it leads us. So, I can assure that despite the suspension, we remain committed to enhancing the skills and capacity of our academic staff. The board continues to place emphasis on locally driven academic development programmes and professional development.
“So we’ve not closed the door for foreign conferences, workshops and specialised forms of short-term trainings. We are also working with NUC to ensure that we push the needle on transnational education, so that some of the partner institutions coming here to establish partnerships with our institutions, or establish partnerships, will focus on those things that we do not have. So we don’t just reinvent the wheel.
“We don’t want to approve people to come and compete with you, but rather to complement what you are doing by bringing programmes that we don’t already have. Another area we want to focus on is the area of research. Research remains a cornerstone of our developmental mission. In 2025, the fund has significantly increased allocations to the National Research Fund, the Research and Innovation Fund, among others.”
Lagos experience
A few days ago, an official of the Lagos State Government, Afolabi Ayantayo, made a shocking revelation: “A total of 23,420 staff members benefitted from various training interventions between May 2022 and December 2024. Within the period, over 185 training programmes were organised which cut across multiple cadres, skill levels and thematic areas relevant to public sector efficiency, leadership development and regulatory compliance.
“Sadly, many of the workers that benefitted from those opportunities abused it. Many of them failed to return to Nigeria afterwards. Despite this large investment, the fact that nearly a third of the trainees stayed back abroad has raised serious concerns about how the programme was being monitored and how the State plans to retain its workers.”
Beneficiaries react
Beneficiaries were, however, divided on the decision of the Federal Government to discontinue foreign scholarships. A University lecturer, Isiaka Bello, said: “We need to meet the world and this often comes through the foreign scholarship windows. Discontinuing it will not go well for Nigerian scholars. It may be true that many people have abused the opportunity, but it’s unwise to outright shut the window because of the ills of a few people.”
He suggested that the ministry and TETFund should tighten all the loosed ends to avoid the unfriendly experience being experienced. Another lecturer from the University of Abuja (UNIABUJA), said: “A colleague of mine used the window to ‘japa’ some years ago. Surprisingly, he never mentioned his intentions to anyone until he planned and executed it successfully.
“He’s been doing very since then. For me, I won’t hesitate to maximise the opportunity if I get one. I won’t return to this country if I have the opportunity to participate in the foreign scholarship. That will be foolish of me.”
A beneficiary, Abdulbasit Sule, said: “A few of us were selected for different programmes in Egypt. We had the best of education and attention there, and all of us returned after the programme.
“I had friends who went to other countries for undergraduate and postgraduate programmes and returned thereafter. Many also didn’t return for whatever reason best known to them. Government should reconsider the decision on discontinuing the BEA and other scholarship arrangements with foreign institutions.”
Another beneficiary, Adewale Solomon, said he was sent to the UK to study medicine and the opportunity was a life changing one for him: “Few of us were selected for the opportunity, two absconded after the programme. They are yet to come back to Nigeria, but they might be visiting silently.”