Dennis Gabriel 
ABUJA, Nigeria – The Federal Ministry of Education has clarified that monetary awards given to Nigerian winners of the TeenEagle 2024/2025 Global Competition were personal gifts from the Minister of Education, not government funds.
The clarification followed criticism from the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), Zone E (Northeast), which described the N200,000 given to Nigerian winner Nafisah Abdullahi as “a national disgrace” and evidence that the country “does not value education.”
In a statement on Thursday, the Ministry wrote on its official X handle: “For the avoidance of doubt, the Ministry wishes to state categorically that the monetary tokens presented … were personal gifts from the Honourable Minister of Education, Dr Maruf Tunji Alausa.”
Dr Alausa confirmed via his social media page that the gesture was meant to encourage the students. “This gift was just a token of my appreciation of the effort made by these young girls and to also serve as encouragement to other girls and young children in Nigeria to excel,” he wrote.
It urged Nigerians to dismiss reports suggesting government coffers funded the gifts, describing such claims as “false and misleading.”
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Hussaini Ibrahim Kafi 
Mirian Gom 
Chukwu Obinna