Nigeria’s Ministry of Education has confirmed that its official website was hacked to publish statements endorsing the controversial Russian-backed Alabuga Start Programme as a scholarship scheme for young Nigerians.
Director of the Federal Scholarship Board, Ndajiwo Asta, said the fraudulent posts, which appeared in 2022 and 2023, were not authorised by the ministry.
“We did not place it. Someone once showed me the letter on the website, which was posted in 2022. Since 2022, why has it not expired? This is the AI age; anybody can just draft a letter and upload it online,” Asta said in an interview.
She noted that inquiries about the authenticity of the programme recur annually. “Every year, I have to clarify that this is fake news. This has been happening since the tenure of Adamu Adamu, the former Minister of Education,” she added.
The Alabuga Start Programme, introduced in 2022, is a Russian initiative that offers fully funded two-year opportunities for young women, aged 18 to 22, from developing countries.
However, reports suggest that recruits often end up working in drone production at a military-industrial facility in Tatarstan, Russia.
Leave feedback about this