By Joy Odor Reportcircle News
A fresh political battle has erupted over Nigeria’s defunct foreign scholarship programme, with a pro-government group accusing former Vice President Atiku Abubakar of deliberately amplifying false claims to discredit President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s education reforms.
The Democratic Front (TDF), in a strongly worded statement on Tuesday, alleged that Atiku relied on what it described as “unverified and misleading social media content” to accuse the Tinubu administration of abandoning Nigerian students enrolled under the Bilateral Education Agreement (BEA) scholarship scheme.
Signed by its Chairman, Danjuma Muhammadu, and Secretary, Wale Adedayo, the statement framed the controversy as a calculated political attack rather than a policy-based critique.
According to TDF, its internal review of the claims surrounding Nigerian students in Morocco revealed no evidence of abandonment or non-payment attributable to the current administration.
“Our investigation shows clearly that the allegations were false, deliberately constructed and intended to tarnish the image of the government,” the group said, adding that Atiku “leveraged the false narrative in a calculated attempt to smear the person of President Bola Tinubu.”
The group argued that the former Vice President’s intervention ignored a key policy shift already taken by the Federal Government.
TDF disclosed that the Tinubu administration formally discontinued the BEA foreign scholarship scheme in April 2025, not as a cost-cutting measure but as part of a broader strategy to redirect public funds into strengthening Nigeria’s tertiary education system.
According to the group, the decision was aimed at building local capacity, upgrading curricula and investing directly in Nigerian universities, an issue that has been at the heart of decades-long disputes between government and the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).
“No responsible government would continue to spend millions of dollars annually on foreign scholarships for a privileged few to study courses that are already offered and often better delivered in Nigeria,” TDF said.
The group described continued foreign scholarship spending as especially indefensible at a time when the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) is financing thousands of students across public and private institutions in the country.
“It is a monumental misplacement of priority,” the statement said, “to export scarce public funds while Nigerian universities are being repositioned to deliver world-class education at home.”
On that basis, TDF said it fully supports the Tinubu administration’s decision to discontinue the BEA programme.
TDF welcomed the recent clarification by the Minister of Education, Dr. Maruf Tunji Alausa, who publicly debunked claims circulating online about Nigerian BEA students in Morocco.
According to the group, the Minister’s intervention exposed the fragility of the allegations and reinforced the need for public figures to verify claims before amplifying them.
In unusually blunt language, TDF suggested that Atiku’s comments reflected “declining political value” and questioned his judgment in relying on social media narratives for such a sensitive national issue.
“It is troubling that a former Vice President would pass judgment on an important public policy matter without due diligence,” the group said.
TDF urged Atiku to exercise greater restraint and responsibility, insisting that even opposition politics demands factual accuracy and careful interrogation of issues.
While the former Vice President has yet to respond, the episode underscores how education policy particularly scholarships and student welfare is fast becoming a proxy battleground for wider political contestation ahead of 2027.
For the Tinubu administration, the defence of its BEA decision is tied to a larger narrative of reform, fiscal discipline and domestic capacity-building.
For critics, the optics of Nigerian students abroad remain politically sensitive.
What is clear is that a policy decision taken nearly a year ago has now resurfaced as a political flashpoint, one that blends social media virality, education funding and the sharpening rhetoric of opposition politics.
