The Federal Government is reviewing its foreign scholarship and Bilateral Education Agreement programmes as part of efforts to reduce unnecessary spending and redirect public resources towards strengthening Nigeria’s tertiary institutions.
The Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, said the government could no longer justify spending scarce public funds to send students abroad to study programmes already available in Nigerian universities, polytechnics and colleges of education.
Alausa disclosed this while explaining the government’s decision to discontinue new government-funded awards under the bilateral scholarship programme.
According to the minister, the issue became particularly concerning after he was presented with a proposal involving about 100,000 Nigerian students travelling to Morocco to study programmes taught in English, including mass communication and journalism.
He questioned the rationale behind the proposal, noting that the courses were already available in Nigerian tertiary institutions. He also pointed out that the students would reportedly have to spend their first year learning French before commencing their programmes.
“Number one, we have all those courses in Nigeria. And yet, number two, they were going to spend the first year learning French before they started the programme,” Alausa said.
He added that the cost of sending such a large number of students abroad could not be justified when Nigeria had developed significant capacity within its own tertiary education system.
“And number three, in the position of a few million to support this in Nigeria, we support thousands of them,” the minister said.
Alausa said the government consequently concluded that continuing the Bilateral Education Agreement in its previous form would amount to an inefficient use of public funds.
“So the Bilateral Education Agreement was not making sense, again, to us in government. It was a way to waste government funds,” he said.
The minister further declared that the administration would not support what it considers unnecessary expenditure of public resources.
“And this President will not waste any public funds,” he added.
Under the revised policy, the Federal Government has discontinued new government-funded awards under the bilateral scholarship programme. However, students who are already beneficiaries will continue to receive government support until they complete their studies.
The policy does not constitute a blanket ban on Nigerians receiving scholarships from foreign governments. According to the minister, foreign governments that wish to sponsor Nigerian students can continue to provide such opportunities without necessarily requiring financial support from the Nigerian government.
Alausa explained that the circumstances that led to the creation of the bilateral scholarship arrangements decades ago had changed significantly.
“When those programmes were set up 20 years ago, they were meant to get students to go to the government colleges where we did not have capacity. But in the last 20 years, we’ve built a number of capacities in the tertiary institutions, universities, polytechnics and colleges,” he said.
The minister stressed that the government’s objective was not simply to withdraw foreign scholarships but to ensure that available resources were invested in areas capable of producing greater impact.
He cited instances where scholarship beneficiaries were expected to study abroad despite already being enrolled in Nigerian universities, describing such situations as further evidence that the existing system required reform.
“So we have to start with Nigerians,” Alausa said.
The scholarship review forms part of the broader education reforms of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration, which include strengthening domestic tertiary institutions, expanding technical and vocational education, improving digital education, and promoting research and innovation.
The Federal Government is also expanding domestic student-support mechanisms through scholarships, bursaries and the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND), which provides financial assistance to students in tertiary institutions.
Alausa recently inaugurated a committee to recognise outstanding academic research and innovation, particularly research with potential for commercialisation and industrial application.
“We want undergraduate researchers to see a clear pathway from academic research to industrial application, enterprise, innovation, and national development,” he said.
The minister maintained that Nigeria’s education system must focus beyond the number of certificates awarded, stressing the importance of transforming knowledge and research into practical solutions and economic value.
“The most successful nations of the 21st century will not necessarily be those endowed with greater natural resources. They will be those that can systematically transform knowledge into solutions, research and intellectual capital into economic and industrial value,” Alausa said.