ABUJA, Nigeria (VOICE OF NAIJA)-The Federal Government has refuted claims that Nigerian scholarship students in Morocco have been neglected, describing the reports as misleading and intentionally designed to deceive the public.
Earlier reports had alleged that Nigerian students in Morocco under the Federal Government’s scholarship programme were experiencing severe difficulties, including homelessness and lack of access to medical care, sparking widespread concern across social media platforms.
A video circulating on X (formerly Twitter) featured activist Martins Otse, popularly known as VeryDarkMan, in conversation with Nigerian students in Morocco who claimed they had gone without financial support for several years despite being beneficiaries of government scholarships.
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Responding to the allegations, the Director of Press and Public Relations at the Federal Ministry of Education, Boriowo Folasade, said in a statement released on Wednesday that the narratives circulating in some quarters were “false, unfounded, and deliberately crafted to misinform the public.”
According to the statement, the Minister of Education, Maruf Alausa, said, “No Nigerian student on a valid Federal Government scholarship has been abandoned.”
Alausa explained that “all beneficiaries duly enrolled under the Bilateral Education Scholarship Programme prior to 2024 had received payments up to the 2024 budget year, in line with government obligations.”
The ministry noted that any delays in outstanding payments stem from fiscal challenges, with the minister describing such setbacks as “attributable to fiscal constraints and are currently being addressed through ongoing engagements between the Federal Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Finance.”
Alausa also denied claims that new bilateral scholarship awards were issued in 2025.
The statement said the minister clarified that “no new bilateral scholarship awards were made in October 2025 or at any time thereafter,” adding that documents circulating to suggest otherwise are “fake, unauthenticated, and constitute a calculated attempt to mislead the public and discredit government policy.”
It further explained that the decision to end government-funded bilateral scholarships abroad followed a policy review, which concluded that Nigeria now has “sufficient capacity within its universities, polytechnics, and colleges of education to deliver the affected programmes locally.”
As a result of the policy shift, the government said only scholarships fully financed by foreign governments are being maintained, “with all financial obligations borne entirely by the host countries.”
Despite the change, the Federal Government said it remains committed to students already enrolled under earlier arrangements and “will continue to support them until the completion of their programmes.”
The ministry added that students who opt to withdraw from overseas studies may formally notify the Director, Department of Scholarship Awards.
Such students, the statement said, “are being offered the option of returning to Nigeria, where they will be seamlessly reintegrated into appropriate tertiary institutions of their choice,” with the Federal Government covering their return travel costs.
Alausa said the current administration is focused on overhauling the scholarship system, noting that earlier practices placed undue pressure on public finances.
According to him, “past practices that sponsored overseas training for courses already well established in Nigeria placed avoidable financial burdens on the nation.”
The statement concluded that the ongoing reforms are aimed at “promoting transparency, accountability, and the prudent management of public resources,” while reaffirming the government’s commitment to the welfare of Nigerian students and rejecting “misinformation, blackmail, or any attempt to undermine policies designed to strengthen national capacity and safeguard the integrity of the education sector.”