The Nigerian government has reduced the supplementation allowances for Nigerian students studying abroad under the Bilateral Education Agreement (BEA) scholarship for the 2024 academic year.
However, the Minister of Education, Tahir Mamman, has denied the development, insisting that the government did not reduce allowances due to the students but “an adjustment of the allowances due to foreign exchange fluctuations.”
Announcement
The government, through a memo addressed to the students who are based in Moscow, Russia, and signed by the Director of the Federal Scholarship Board at the Federal Ministry of Education, Ndajiwo Hamman, attributed the reduction in the allowances to the foreign exchange crisis in Nigeria
The letter reads in part: “I am directed to inform you that the prevailing situation concerning the domestic exchange rate in Nigeria makes it difficult for the Federal Scholarship Board to sustain the payment of Bilateral Education Agreement (BEA) scholars’ allowances as contained in the award letters issued at the point of departure to the host countries”.
The education ministry has also promised to pay the scholars the owed parts of their 2023 and 2024 allowances.
Clarification
Meanwhile, the minister, Mr Mamman, a professor, insisted that that the government did not slash the scholars’ allowances.
Mr Mamman said the rate change was an adjustment due to prevailing Foreign Exchange fluctuations on the existing budgetary allocations for the scholars.
“We want to place it on record that the ministry and the Federal Government for that matter have not slashed the allowances due to students,” he said during a meeting with the leadership of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) in Abuja on Friday, News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports.
“What happened is some adjustments in the amount due to them because of FOREX fluctuations, and as soon as we get the balance we have applied for, we will pay them.
“But for now, what is in the budget is what we can pay. So, there is no slash, we will even be happy to increase, so this is what has led to the adjustments,” he added.
Old Rate and New Rate
The adjustment in the supplementation allowances, according to the letter sighted by this newspaper, is reproduced below:
| S/N | Allowance | Old Rate ($) | New Rate ($) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Supplementation per month | 500 | 220 |
| 2 | Warm clothing per annum | 250 | 250 |
| 3 | PG research allowance | 1,000 | 500 |
| 4 | Health Insurance | 200 | 200 |
| 5 | Pilot allowance | 700 | 700 |
| 6 | Medical allowance | 500 | 500 |
| 7 | Passage/graduation allowance | 2,500 | 2,000 |
| Total | 5,650 | 4,370 |
Tough Time for Nigerian scholars
Since the administration of President Bola Tinubu floated the Naira, Nigerian scholars studying abroad have had the payment of their allowances disrupted.
PREMIUM TIMES reported how government-sponsored scholars in Malaysia, India and Kenya wrote the government seeking bailout funds after the exchange rate fluctuations affected their upkeep allowances.
The Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) had to provide bail out funds to the scholars under its Scholarship for Academic Staff (TSAS) programme.
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