NORTHERN ORGANIZATION SLAMS GOVERNMENT ON FOREIGN SCHOLARSHIP NEGLECT
Read Time:1 Minute, 21 Second
By: Fasasi Hammad
A Northern group has criticized the federal government over the alleged abandonment of the Bilateral Education Agreement (BEA), accusing President Bola Ahmed Tinubu of politicizing the policy.
The group also condemned the President’s silence amid ongoing protests calling for the program’s reinstatement. The statement was issued on Wednesday by Murtala Abubakar, president of the Arewa Defense League (ADL).
Abubakar described the situation affecting Nigerian students abroad as “a tragedy without sirens but heavy with hunger, humiliation, and broken promises.” He emphasized that there is nothing wrong with the BEA Scholarship Programme itself, noting that education is never wasteful.
READ MORE…
OYO COMMUNITY FIRE DESTROYS PETROL STATION, TANKER, AND OTHER ASSETS
He added, “Yes, the program has faced delays and bureaucratic hurdles, but never before has a Nigerian government so casually turned its back on students already abroad, committed, and vulnerable. A nation may abandon infrastructure, but when it abandons its children, it abandons its soul.”
The ADL president recalled that the Bola Tinubu administration abruptly discontinued the BEA Scholarship Programme, which had allowed thousands of underprivileged but talented Nigerians to study in countries including China, Russia, Morocco, and Hungary.
He further criticized President Tinubu’s silence, saying, “Not a word on the protests. Not a word on the hunger. Not a word on the moral collapse of a program built on diplomacy and mutual respect. This silence may be the loudest indictment of all.”
The criticism follows the May 2025 announcement by the Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, that the government would no longer fund foreign scholarships.
Happy
0 %
Sad
0 %
Excited
0 %
Sleepy
0 %
Angry
0 %
Surprise
0 %
0
0