Follow Us on Google
From Fred Ezeh, Abuja
The federal government has stated that the country is not offering any new foreign scholarship opportunities to Nigerian students under the Bilateral Education Agreement (BEA) programme.
The Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, said in a statement on Friday that the explanation was in response to online reports suggesting a contradiction between the reported discontinuation of the BEA scheme and its appearance in the current budget.
The Minister urged the public to disregard misleading interpretations of budget figures that fail to reflect the technical realities of budget formulation and roll-over practices.
He explained that the allocations in question originated from the 2025 national budget, which had already been passed and signed into law before the Federal Government halted the processing of new BEA scholarship awards around April and May of that year.
Other News
He noted that due to the structure of Nigeria’s budgeting system, provisions contained in an already approved budget cannot be removed retroactively; as a result, the BEA component remained intact within the 2025 budget framework.
The Minister further explained that the 2026 budget currently in operation is largely a roll-over of the 2025 fiscal plan, with approximately 30 per cent retained from the previous year and 70 per cent projected into the current cycle. “Consequently, all existing budget lines, including those relating to the BEA scholarship, were carried forward as part of this standard fiscal process.”
He emphasised that the continued appearance of the BEA allocation in the budget document is purely procedural and does not indicate the resumption of new scholarship awards under the scheme.
He insisted that any formal adjustment to the BEA budget line, as reflected in the 2026 Appropriation Act, can only be effected through an approved virement. “At that stage, necessary steps will be taken to realign or repurpose the allocation in line with current government policies and priorities,” the Minister said.
He reaffirmed the commitment to transparency, accountability, and the prudent management of public resources, assuring Nigerians that all education policies will continue to align with national priorities and the best interests of students.
