Nigerian Govt Slashes Allowances of Foreign Scholarship Students

The Nigerian Government has reduced the allowances of foreign scholars who are studying under the Bilateral Educational Agreement, BEA, Scholarship by 12.7 per cent, as announced in a memo issued by the Nigerian Government.
The scholars on Federal Government Scholarship are currently stranded in Russia, Morocco, Algeria, amongst others and had recently, lamented their unpaid stipends for eight months running.
In the memo signed by the Director of the Federal Scholarship Board, Ndajiwo H.A, on behalf of the Minister of Education, Tahir Mamman, the Federal Government explained that the balance owed to the students would be paid whenever money is available.
The memo said that the monthly allowances were slashed from $500 to $220; the graduation allowance from $2,500 to $2,000; and the Post-Graduate research allowance from $1,000 to $500, with the total amount now $4,370 per scholar.
The federal government has attributed the development to the current economic crunch in the country.