Nigeria’s Federal Government has approved N400 million for the payment of upkeep allowances of Nigerian students on foreign scholarships.
According to the acting Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Education, Hindatu Abdullahi, who made this known, the delay in the release of the fund was due to non-release of capital allowance for 2015, and the change in government.
She said that the upkeep allowance of the scholars did not come as overhead allocation but capital allocation, adding that the allowance, payable to the scholars outside the country, is from January to December and it is calculated and captured in the budget every year.
She said that the plight of the students was being taken seriously, adding that “we just have an approval of about N400 million, we are now working with the Federal Ministry of Finance to obtain it.
“After that, we will head to the Budget Office and the Central Bank of Nigeria to ensure that the money is remitted as soon as possible to the missions.
“In terms of the paper work, we have concluded; we want to pay something so that their hardship will be minimised.
Ms. Abdullahi said the entitlements were being worked out from January to December and that in 2014, the students got all allowances for the year between July and August.
“Whenever we receive capital allocation in the ministry, we work out the scholarship money and pay into CBN.
“CBN will now remit same in line with the information we have given them; it will remit to embassies which will remit to the scholars.” [myad]
