The Federal Government has approved
N400 million for the payment of upkeep
allowances of Nigerian students on foreign
scholarships.
The Acting Permanent Secretary, Federal
Ministry of Education, Hajia HIndatu
Abdullahi, made the disclosure in an
interview with the News Agency of Nigeria
(NAN) in Abuja on Wednesday.
Abdullahi attributed the delay to non-release
of capital allowance and the change in
government which delayed the release of
capital allocation for 2015.
She explained that the upkeep allowance of
the scholars did not come as over head
allocation but capital allocation.
According to her, 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.
Abdullahi said the entitlements were being
worked out from January to December,
adding 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.
The acting permanent secretary said that if
there was any delay in the release of capital
allocation, it would affect scholars’ upkeep
allowances.
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