Education
Nigerian students abandoned abroad, left to starve – Atiku alleges
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has accused President Bola Tinubu’s administration of abandoning Nigerian students studying overseas under the Bilateral Education Agreement (BEA), warning that the alleged neglect has left about 1,600 young Nigerians stranded without support.
In a statement on Sunday, Atiku said the BEA scholarship scheme was quietly axed under Tinubu “without notice to parents or wards and without consideration for students already midway through their studies overseas.”
Describing the program as a “diplomatic bridge now left broken,” Atiku explained that the BEA, launched in 1993 and revitalized in 1999, was designed to enable Nigerian students pursue undergraduate and postgraduate education through agreements with partner countries.
“What was initially described as a temporary five-year suspension soon metamorphosed into outright abandonment,” Atiku said.
According to him, the decision has left students abroad without stipends, with unpaid allowances now running into thousands of dollars per student.
“Their pleas are desperate and straightforward: pay the stipends owed, now more than $6,000 per student. Yet from the corridors of power came a cold, technocratic explanation: scarce public funds must be managed ‘responsibly,’ and money meant to keep these students alive abroad should instead be redirected home,” he said.
He revealed that the hardship worsened between September and December 2023 when stipends were unpaid, before allowances were slashed by 56 per cent in 2024 from $500 to $220 per month and later stopped entirely.
“The cruelty of the moment was sharpened by timing and tone. Hunger, rent arrears, and shame have become the daily companions of the beneficiary students.”
“In Morocco, one student did not survive the ordeal, dying in November last year and turning quiet suffering into public grief,” Atiku added.
Parents and students have protested in Abuja, gathering at the Ministries of Education and Finance to demand answers, but their appeals, he said, “have been mainly ignored.”
The former vice president also criticized remarks attributed to the education minister suggesting that students who were “fed up” could be financed to return home, saying the comment “reduced years of study and sacrifice to an administrative inconvenience.
“To anxious parents, it sounded like expulsion by neglect. Today, that pact lies broken.”
Atiku concluded that Nigerian scholars scattered across foreign campuses are still waiting not only for their stipends, but for reassurance that their country “has not forgotten them.”
President Bola Tinubu has approved the appointment of Dr. Makoji Stephen as the new Rector of Federal Polytechnic Ugep in Cross River State.
The approval was granted by the Federal Government, and the appointment will take effect from March 17, 2026.
Dr. Stephen will serve a single term of five years in line with the Polytechnic Act 2019 as amended.
The decision is seen as part of efforts to strengthen leadership and improve the academic and administrative structure of the institution.
Before this new role, Dr. Stephen worked as a Chief Lecturer in the Department of Public Administration at Federal Polytechnic, Idah.
He also served as an Adjunct Faculty member in the Department of Public Policy and Administration at Miva Open University, Nigeria.
Dr. Stephen began his academic journey at Ahmadu Bello University, where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Public Administration in 1998 with Second Class Upper Division.
He later obtained a Master of Science degree in Public Administration from Benue State University.
In 2009, he earned another Master of Science degree in Human Resource Management from the University of Salford in the United Kingdom.
He further completed a Ph.D. in Business and Management with a focus on Human Resource Management at the University of Salford Business School in 2016.
His doctoral studies were supported by the Tertiary Education Trust Fund.
Six final-year female students of the Open and Distance Learning (ODL) Bachelor of Nursing Science programme at Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH) have reportedly lost their lives in a tragic road traffic accident.
The victims, all 500-level students, were said to be traveling to the university’s main campus in Ogbomoso on Sunday, February 22, 2026, to sit for their semester examinations when the fatal crash occurred.
Sources disclosed that the accident happened while the students were en route to the institution, though the exact location and circumstances surrounding the incident remain unclear as investigations continue.
The bodies of the deceased have been deposited at a mortuary, while authorities are yet to issue an official statement regarding the tragedy. As of the time of filing this report, the university management has also not released formal confirmation or details about the incident.
Further information, including the possible cause of the accident and identities of the victims, is expected to emerge as officials conclude preliminary inquiries.
The incident has reportedly thrown colleagues and members of the university community into mourning, especially as the students were preparing to complete the final stage of their academic program.
Education
Media personality Toolz laments over volume of her sons’ schoolwork, says it feels like she’s back in Year 2
Media personality Toolz has shared a lighthearted complaint about the amount of schoolwork her children bring home.
Taking to Instagram, she questioned why the assignments seem so intense at such an early stage, joking that it feels like she has returned to primary school herself.
According to her, instead of simple tasks like coloring and basic maths, her sons are already handling detailed science projects that require designing and defending their work.
She wrote partly, “Because why does it feel like I’m back in Year 2… and more importantly, why is it a bit hard?!”
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