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Foreign scholars under the Federal Government’s Bilateral Educational Agreement scholarship have written President Bola Tinubu over their withheld 14-month allowances.
This situation had made living difficult for them as they cannot access the needed funds for the welfare.
Recall that the Federal Ministry of Education announced a slash in allowances for foreign scholars, who are currently stranded in Russia, Morocco, and Algeria, among others following the economic hardship in the country.
The letter dated August 20, 2024, was signed by the union of all the scholars in Hungary, Morocco, China, Serbia, Algeria, Venezuela and Russia.
The BEA scholarship is for the purpose of education exchange between Nigeria and the partnering countries.
The Federal Scholarship Board is supervising the scholarship under the Federal Ministry of Education.
The scholars had also been owed for several months with a number of them confirming to our correspondent that they had resorted to taking loans to survive.
The scholars, in their letter on Wednesday, noted that the delays in scholarship payments had forced many of them “into severe hardship and hard labour in faraway countries to make ends meet.”
“This has certainly affected our academic performance,” they lamented.
The scholar union said it had “received reports of suicide attempts by some scholars, while others are being threatened with legal action by their landlords and/or creditors for non-payment of their loans/house rent.”
The letter further read: “Recall that the Federal Scholarship Board memo sent to us and dated July 23, the Director, FSB communicated an adjustment of 56% cut from the monthly stipends of 2024 due to the domestic exchange rate, as sad as this sounds to the ears of the scholars, the scholars hoped that the slashed amount will be paid as soon as possible to provide temporary relief.
“Unfortunately, one month later, we have yet to receive the reduced amount. According to information received from the FSB, the funds were sent to the CBN for onward transmission to the various embassies, which have not received the payment to date. All efforts to contact the CBN on the status of the payment proved abortive.
“We are, therefore, using this medium not only to call on the CBN to ensure the payment of these slashed stipends but also to call on the Hononourable Minister of Education, Prof. Tahir Mamman, to, as a matter of urgency, ensure the release of the completion of the slashed 2024 stipends and the six months of 2023 stipends owed the scholars.
“We implore the Presidency and the entire Nigerian Federal Government to recognise that we are not just the future of this nation, but also its very lifeblood. To forsake us now is to condemn us to a life in the shadows, a life where hope withers and dies. The torment we have endured, unpaid and neglected since July 2023 has already pushed many to the brink. Another day of delay will not just deepen our suffering, it will seal the fate of those most vulnerable among us, including orphans and those without any support. The blood of innocent scholars will be on your hands.”
