Nigeria's budgetary allocation for the Bilateral Education Agreement scholarship scheme rose from ₦3.2 billion in 2022 to ₦8 billion in 2025 before the Federal Government pulled the plug, and officials have now made clear the programme will not be restored.

Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, confirmed in an interview that the government formally discontinued the BEA scholarship programme in April 2025, citing financial unsustainability, institutional abuse and the expanded capacity of Nigerian Universities to deliver courses previously studied abroad.

"There is no need for the programme anymore. We have the courses here in Nigeria, and we cannot continue to waste government funds sponsoring students abroad to study programmes readily available in our universities," Alausa stated.

The Minister argued that continued sponsorship of students to foreign Institutions for programmes already offered locally amounted to a waste of public resources, questioning in particular the rationale of sending students to francophone countries where English instruction is limited.

"How do you send a Nigerian student to Morocco, a French speaking country, to study English? It does not make sense," he said.

Alausa disclosed that the scheme, created decades ago to provide access to specialised courses unavailable in Nigeria, had since become a vehicle for abuse. He revealed that some beneficiaries collected scholarship funds without leaving the country.

"What we discovered was that some students collected the money and were actually staying in Nigeria instead of studying abroad. That defeated the purpose of the programme and opened the door to corrupt practices," he added.

He noted that students were increasingly being sponsored to study disciplines such as Mass Communication and Sociology, courses widely available across Nigerian Universities, further undermining the original intent of the scheme.

Despite the cancellation, Alausa assured that current beneficiaries would not be abandoned. "The Government will honour all existing commitments to students already on the programme. We are not abandoning them midway," he clarified.

The Government maintained that funds previously committed to foreign scholarships would be redirected toward strengthening local tertiary Institutions.