The Federal Authorities has put aside N1.764 billion within the 2026 Appropriation Invoice to fund 300 contemporary scholarships for Nigerians beneath the Bilateral Training Settlement (BEA) programme.
The allocation, listed beneath the Federal Ministry of Training, will cowl allowances, medical insurance, journey, and different important wants for these students.
It varieties a part of the ministry’s whole 2026 price range of N2,398,761,320,016.
This comes regardless of formally discontinuing the programme final 12 months, citing waste of public funds and programs already out there in Nigerian universities.
Particulars from the price range doc present it allocates N1.764 billion for the conduct and implementation of contemporary 300 scholarships to Nigerians to check in nations which have bilateral training agreements with Nigeria beneath merchandise ERGP24230073.
An additional N105 million has been earmarked for the verification of BEA faculties in 12 nations by officers of the Federal Ministry of Training in merchandise ERGP24230092.
Along with this, N5.6 billion beneath the road merchandise ERGP24230060 is designated for the servicing of ongoing 1,532 BEA students in donor nations, which incorporates cost of supplementation allowance, medical, medical insurance, heat clothes and postgraduate allowance.
These prices are supposed to cowl Nigerian college students learning in nations resembling Russia, China, Cuba, Romania, Turkey, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Serbia, Hungary, Ukraine, Mexico, Venezuela and Kazakstan.
In April 2025, the Nigerian authorities formally discontinued the Bilateral Training Settlement (BEA) scholarship programme, citing inefficient use of public funds and the supply of the identical programs in Nigerian universities.
Many college students confronted extreme hardship attributable to delayed and diminished stipends, with funds fully halted from September 2023 to August 2024 and subsequent disbursements lower by greater than half. ‘
The federal government determined to redirect funds from the BEA programme to home scholarship schemes to help a bigger variety of Nigerian college students, whereas permitting present beneficiaries to finish their research.
Final week, a viral social media submit by Nigerian college students beneath the BEA program in Morocco alleged delays in stipend funds, with claims of hardship, homelessness and lack of entry to medical help.
In response, the Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, clarified that each one Nigerian college students on federal scholarships who have been enrolled earlier than 2024 have obtained funds as much as the 2024 price range 12 months. He additionally acknowledged that no new bilateral scholarship awards have been issued in October 2025 or thereafter.
The 2026 price range allocation for 300 new scholarships is subsequently uncommon, coming after the programme had already been discontinued.
