ABUJA, Nigeria — The Federal Ministry of Education has vehemently debunked a viral press release circulating on social media which falsely claimed the indefinite suspension of the National Award Scholarship and the outright dissolution of the Federal Scholarship Board (FSB).
The fraudulent document, dated May 29, 2026, and carrying the forged signature of the Director of Press and Public Relations, Boriowo Folasade, alleged that systemic misappropriation of funds and severe fiscal constraints had forced the government to scrap the national reward system.
Okay News reports that ministry officials swiftly intercepted the viral graphic on Friday afternoon, labeling the entire circular as “fake news” carefully engineered by mischief-makers to cause panic among Nigerian students and undermine public trust in national educational institutions.
The fabricated release had claimed that a thorough policy review exposed widespread operational inefficiencies and massive unpaid backlogs across multiple academic institutions, prompting a total structural collapse of the board. It went on to falsely state that all residual administrative duties were being forcefully transferred to unspecified, makeshift departments within the federal secretariat.
Countering the misinformation, the ministry clarified that the Federal Scholarship Board remains fully operational and intact. While the administration of Dr. Maruf Tunji Alausa had previously executed structural reforms—such as a comprehensive policy shift to phase out new government-funded Bilateral Education Agreement (BEA) foreign awards to heavily prioritize investments in local public tertiary institutions—it has repeatedly assured the public that all running domestic and foreign scholarship obligations are actively funded and maintained without interruption.
The government urged students, parents, and academic stakeholders nationwide to completely disregard the cloned circular and to rely exclusively on verified updates published directly through the Ministry of Education’s official online portal and authenticated communication channels.
