FG Scraps Funding For “Worthless” Foreign Scholarships, To Redirect N650m To Nigerian Students — Alausa

The Federal Government has pulled the plug on funding for foreign scholarships it described as “unproductive”, saying it will no longer waste scarce public resources sending students abroad to study courses readily available in Nigeria.

Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, made the declaration on Wednesday in Abuja during the unveiling of the Tertiary Institutions National Laureate Prize.

He cited the Bilateral Education Agreement, BEA programme as an example, revealing that Nigeria spent N650 million to send just 150 students to Morocco for one year.

“We Can’t Justify Sending Students To Study English In Algeria”

Alausa said the BEA scheme was created about two decades ago when Nigeria lacked capacity in certain specialised fields. That gap, he said, no longer exists.

“We have built enormous capacities in our tertiary institutions, universities and colleges. Now we are asking where we are sending students,” the minister said.

“We are sending students to Algeria, which is a French-speaking country, to study English. We are sending students to Morocco, a French-speaking country, to study journalism and psychology.”

He disclosed that shortly after assuming office, he rejected a proposal to send another 150 students to Morocco at a cost of N650 million.

Beyond the cost, Alausa said the students would have spent the first year learning French before starting their degrees.

“I felt this was not morally right. Number one, we have all those courses in Nigeria. Number two, they were going to spend the first year learning French before they started the programme. And number three, if we put N650 million to support students in Nigeria, it will support thousands of them,” he said.

“So, the bilateral agreement was not making sense to us as a government. It was a way to waste government funds. And this President will not waste any funds, any public funds.”

—Policy Shift: Fund Local, Not Foreign—

The minister clarified that the government is not against foreign scholarships generally. Countries willing to fund Nigerian students remain free to do so.

The new position, he said, is that public funds will no longer be committed to programmes that do not deliver value.

The decision aligns with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s broader agenda to ensure government spending produces measurable outcomes, Alausa added.

—N365m National Laureate Prize Launched To Reward Excellence—

To redirect focus and funding locally, the ministry unveiled the Tertiary Institutions National Laureate Prize, an annual N365 million award scheme designed to celebrate research, innovation and academic excellence.

Key features:

– Open to all: Federal, state and private universities, polytechnics, monotechnics and colleges of education can participate
– Six thematic areas: Entries will be judged across six fields
– Three-stage selection: Institutional → Zonal → National levels, with emphasis on merit and geopolitical balance
– Sustainable funding: Backed by TETFund and other dedicated funding streams to prevent it from collapsing
– Anti-plagiarism checks: Supervisors and external examiners must digitally affirm all submissions

Students cannot apply directly. Each institution will set up a selection committee to nominate its best projects.

“The innovators in our country matter. The scholars in our country matter. The researchers in our country matter. The people in our laboratories and intellectual institutions deserve national celebration,” Alausa said.

He said the prize aims to change Nigeria’s culture of recognition by giving academics the same national attention often reserved for entertainers and athletes.

The scheme will feature an overall “best of the best” award, plus top prizes in each of the six thematic areas.

Bottom line: With local capacity now built, the FG says it will prioritise funding thousands of students at home over sending a few hundred abroad.