From Our Correspondent
Lagos, May 4, ’25 (TNZ) The Democratic Front (TDF) says the federal government’s decision to scrap the Bilateral Education Agreement scholarship scheme is a well-thought-out step.
TheNewsZenith reports that the group noted in a statement that the scheme had continued to drain the nation’s resources.
TDF gave the expression in a statement over the weekend in Abuja.
The group observed that the scheme often issues scholarships for courses that are cheaply available in the country.
“This laudable action is long overdue, given the inherent huge economic waste that characterised the BEA scholarship programme.
“The BEA programme has not established any relevant legacy in Nigeria’s educational development since its inception.
“This is apart from the fact that it is draining the nation’s annual education budget,” TheNewsZenith quotes from the statement.
TDF described as disturbing, a revelation from the Ministry of Education that N650 million was recommended for approval for payment to just 60 students in Morocco for 2024 alone.
“This offers a disturbing insight into the type of drainpipe the BEA programme had been on public funds, and a justification of the decision to scrap it.
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“We believe that the technical absurdity in operating the BEA scholarship programme, alongside an effective student loan scheme like the NELFUND, should not be tolerated by any responsible government.
“It is inconceivable that Nigerian students in Russia, Morocco, Algeria, Serbia, Hungary, and Egypt can achieve their full academic potential due to language barriers.
“This is because they have to study foreign languages as enshrined in the bilateral agreement with those countries.
“It is one of the reasons such students are not able to compete favourably with their counterparts in Nigerian universities.
“This underscores the inadequacies of the education they acquired from other countries when compared with the Nigerian standard.
“The lack of transparency and the delay in the payment of stipends to beneficiaries have also created public doubt around the sustainability of the programme.
“So, it is a good thing that the government has opted to scrap it,” the group stated. (TNZ)
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