Former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, has claimed that the Federal Government abandoned students studying overseas under the Bilateral Education Agreement (BEA).
Speaking via a statement on Sunday, he alleged that the BEA scheme was quietly obliterated during President Bola Tinubu’s administration without notice to parents or wards and without consideration for students already midway through their studies overseas.
He lamented that the alleged neglect has left about 1,600 young Nigerians stranded without support.
Describing the program as a “diplomatic bridge now left broken,” Atiku explained that the BEA, launched in 1993 and revitalised in 1999, was designed to enable Nigerian students to pursue undergraduate and postgraduate education through agreements with partner countries.
“What was initially described as a temporary five-year suspension soon metamorphosed into outright abandonment,” Atiku said.
According to him, the decision has left students abroad without stipends, with unpaid allowances now running into thousands of dollars per student.
“Their pleas are desperate and straightforward: 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.
He revealed that the hardship worsened between September and December 2023 when stipends were unpaid, before allowances were slashed by 56 per cent in 2024 from $500 to $220 per month and later stopped entirely.
“The cruelty of the moment was sharpened by timing and tone. Hunger, rent arrears, and shame have become the daily companions of the beneficiary students.
“In Morocco, one student did not survive the ordeal, dying in November last year and turning quiet suffering into public grief,” Atiku added.