Tinubu Allegedly Breaches Education Agreement, Leaves Nigerian Students Abroad – Atiku

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has accused the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu of abandoning Nigerian students studying overseas under the Bilateral Education Agreement (BEA), alleging that the government has failed to honour commitments that have kept more than 1,600 students stranded in foreign countries without financial support.

In a statement released on Thursday, Atiku claimed that the BEA scholarship programme was quietly discontinued by the current administration without prior notification to parents, guardians, or the students themselves. He warned that the decision was taken without consideration for beneficiaries who were already partway through their academic programmes abroad.

According to Atiku, the Bilateral Education Agreement, originally established in 1993 and later strengthened in 1999, was created to enable Nigerian students pursue undergraduate and postgraduate education through partnerships between Nigeria and other countries. He described the initiative as a key diplomatic and educational bridge that has now been neglected.

He explained that what the government initially described as a temporary five-year suspension of the programme eventually turned into what he called complete abandonment.

“What was first presented as a short-term pause gradually transformed into outright neglect,” Atiku stated.

The former vice president further alleged that the policy shift has left Nigerian students overseas without their monthly stipends, noting that unpaid allowances have accumulated to more than $6,000 per student in some cases.

He said the affected students have repeatedly appealed to the government with what he described as urgent and basic demands — payment of their outstanding stipends to enable them survive and continue their education.

However, Atiku claimed that the response from government officials was that limited public resources must be managed carefully, and that funds previously allocated to sustaining students abroad should instead be redirected toward domestic priorities.

He added that the situation deteriorated significantly between September and December 2023, when students reportedly received no stipends at all. The hardship, he said, worsened in 2024 when monthly allowances were reduced by 56 per cent — dropping from $500 to $220 — before payments were eventually halted completely.

According to Atiku, the situation became even more alarming in 2025, as there were no stipend payments throughout the year.

He described the human impact of the decision as severe, saying affected students have faced hunger, unpaid rent, emotional distress, and social humiliation in their host countries.

“The suffering was compounded by both timing and tone. Hunger, debt, and despair have become constant realities for these students,” he said.

Atiku also referenced a tragic incident in Morocco, where one Nigerian student reportedly died in November last year, turning what had largely been silent hardship into public mourning.

He noted that both parents and students had staged protests in Abuja, visiting the Federal Ministries of Education and Finance to demand explanations and intervention. Despite these efforts, he claimed their concerns have received little or no meaningful response.

The former vice president also criticised comments allegedly made by the Minister of Education suggesting that students who were “fed up” could be sponsored to return home. He argued that such remarks trivialised years of academic effort, personal sacrifice, and national investment.

“To worried parents, it sounded like forced withdrawal through neglect. Today, that agreement stands broken,” Atiku said.

He concluded by stating that Nigerian students scattered across foreign universities are not only waiting for their overdue stipends, but also seeking reassurance that their country has not abandoned them.