The Education Minister said the government would review the foreign scholarship scheme

Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, said the Federal Government is reviewing overseas scholarships and bilateral education arrangements with other countries.

According to him, the government can no longer justify spending limited public funds to send students abroad to undertake study programs that are already available in Nigerian universities, polytechnics and colleges of education.

This, he said, was part of efforts to eliminate unnecessary expenditure and direct public resources towards strengthening Nigeria’s tertiary institutions

The Minister disclosed this while explaining the reasons behind the Federal Government’s decision to review overseas scholarship arrangements, and emphasized that the policy was driven by the need to build domestic capacity and ensure better value for public spending.

He recalled that shortly after taking office, he was faced with a proposal involving some 100,000 Nigerian students traveling to Morocco to study subjects taught in English, including mass communications and journalism.

According to him, the proposal raises serious concerns because the course is already available in Nigeria, while students must spend their first year learning French before starting their program.

Alausa said, “First, we have all these courses in Nigeria. But, second, they will spend the first year learning French before starting the program.”

He added that the cost of supporting such students abroad cannot be justified when Nigeria has developed considerable capacity in its tertiary institutions over the years.

“And thirdly, in the position of several million people supporting this in Nigeria, we support thousands of them,” he said.

The minister said the government concluded that continuing with the previous arrangements would lead to inefficient use of public resources.

“So the Bilateral Education Agreement again makes no sense to us in government. This is a way to waste government funds,” Alausa said.

He added, “And this President will not waste public funds.”

Alausa also explained that foreign countries wishing to continue sponsoring Nigerian students can do so without requiring financial support from the Nigerian government.

The minister said the circumstances that justified sending large numbers of Nigerian students abroad decades ago have changed considerably.