The Senate has mandated its Committee on Education to invite the Federal Scholarship Board and the Minister of Education to provide detailed report on status of Nigerian students under international scholarship programmes.
This followed the adoption of a motion by Sen. Saliu Mustapha (APC-Kwara) at plenary on Tuesday.
Presenting the motion, Mustaph, said that the Federal Government usually award annual scholarships to outstanding students to further their studies abroad to develop a cadre of exceptional professionals for nation’s development.
He said the scholarships were part of a broader initiative to promote specialised education through partnerships with foreign institutions, facilitated by entities such as the Federal Scholarship Board under the Ministry of Education.
He said the scholarship scheme supported the government’s commitment to Bilateral Education Agreements (BEA) and Multilateral Agreements with Commonwealth and other international partners.
He said reports of Nigerian students facing hardships in Algeria, China, Morocco, Russia and the United Kingdom due to non-payment of tuition and living stipends had resulted in negative media reports and national embarrassment.
“The recurring problems are indication of systemic failures, in spite of previous interventions by the Senate to prevent the situation,” he said.
He said the inability of government to meet its financial obligations under the international agreements for over ten months, had jeopardize the welfare and academic progress of the affected students.
He said failure to fulfill the obligations would affect the reputation of Nigeria.
This, he said was capable of driving the students into unlawful activities to sustain themselves abroad.(NAN)
