Whenever my colleagues of the “soft sell” genre want to start a story that is not palatable, they start with the phrase “This is not the best of times…” I will start by using that phrase today to say this is not the best of times for students studying abroad on scholarships – both from federal and state governments. I am writing to draw attention to their plight and the pains some go through to acquire quality education.
I got a call about three weeks ago from an anonymous caller who lamented about his brother who is on scholarship in Russia. The picture he painted was quite unfortunate. Beyond Russia however, Nigerian students from other parts of the world are also lamenting.
Last week, The Cable, an online newspaper, reported that 250 Nigerian students in Canada risk deportation because of governments’ inability to meet their financial obligations. The paper reported that the River states government is finding it difficult to fund their scholarships.
It quoted one Osho Samuel, a graduate student of mechanical engineering in the University of Manitoba, Winnipeg: “This is a national disgrace, considering the fact that these students are here to learn, they’ve lost all hope and I believe strongly that the government can respond and pay their bills.” He said they are becoming a nuisance to their host country even against the backdrop of preparing for their exams “in the next two weeks.”
According to the report, about 50 of the students are undergraduates in Manitoba, while the rest are spread across the country. CBC, a Canadian news outfit, had earlier reported that about 250 Nigerian students are studying at 14 Canadian universities on a scholarship from the Rivers State Sustainable Development Agency (RSSDA).
Another undergraduate identified as Gift Amadi reportedly told CBC that RSSDA sponsored them to the universities and promised not only to pay their tuition but also provide them with $1,100 monthly income for their rent and feeding. He said the tuition had not been paid, while their monthly stipend had not come in 11 months, adding that the school has served the students a 30 days’ notice to pay up or drop out. In his own case, he resorted to taking loans from friends in church. “They were able to help me generate some money that I used to pay. If not, I wouldn’t have been able to start classes.”
According to the students, the RSSDA is in default to the tune of N500 million to universities in Canada, with the majority owed to the University of Manitoba, the University of Regina and Simon Fraser University.
A week before the Rivers State government came out that it would not be able to fund the scholarship I was reliably informed that would be the next step. And true to the information, the state’s Commissioner of Agriculture, Ominim Jack came out to indicate that the State government can no longer continue to fund the RSSDA overseas scholarship. The government had expectedly blamed the development on the fall in the price of oil which now sells at $38 – a seven year low. Rather than remain silent, I believe the government should be commended for addressing parents of the beneficiaries on why it will be unable to fund the scholarships as a result of the current economic situation in the country.
As a palliative, it proposed transferring the students back to Nigeria and sustain the full scholarship of the returned students at either the University of Port Harcourt or the Rivers State University of Science and Technology. This however comes with a catch; the state government will only fund students who are in their final year, and this will be done in installments for the close to 200 students.
Expectedly, such measures cannot go down well with everyone. However, I feel there are questions the state government failed to address. What happens to the other students, especially those who have a year to finish their studies? Why not allow the current set of students to finish their studies and then review? The beneficiaries’ and their parents deserve answers.
In June this year, the President of Ijaw Youth Council Worldwide, Mr. Udengs Eradiri drew the attention of the Federal Government and well-meaning Nigerians to the plight of over 6,000 Niger Delta students on scholarships in some foreign universities. He said the authorities of the foreign universities had started delisting the students, majority of who were Ijaws, due to the alleged Government’s failure to pay the students’ fees.
Apart from these students, there is also a sizeable number under the Bilateral Education Agreement (BEA) scholarship scheme with various countries, including Ukraine, Turkey, Egypt, Morocco, Cuba, Russia etc. A commendable initiative, the BEA scholarship has existed for more than 30 years in various forms. Like most things Nigerian, it is sad to note that the same problem that beset this scheme since inception still persists to date with government officials showing complete disregard toward the welfare of beneficiaries.
Under the agreement, beneficiaries are expected to study the language of their host country in their first year and this constitutes the language of instruction throughout their study. However, performance in the language course determines the continuation of the course of study.
There have been series of reports that most of the students are not regularly paid, even when the funds are available to pay them because of activities of unscrupulous officials. It is important to note that majority of the beneficiaries rely solely on the government stipends. They were awarded scholarships based on their academic achievements.
The agreement is not flexible due to laws governing the rights of foreign students in most of the countries where they are not permitted to work. In cases where they can; culture and language barriers makes it almost impossible for them to find employment.
As a result, delays associated with the payment of stipends often lead to crises which are further compounded by the fact that they may not be that proficient in the languages of their host countries. The existing arrangement is that the students will be paid every quarter. I gathered that students are paid their stipends for the next quarter at the end of the last quarter. For example, the stipends for July-September are paid at the end of June. Unfortunately, for the past 7 years, I was told this has never happened; not even once.
At best, payments were made for the previous quarter at the beginning of a new one. Over the last seven years, the situation has deteriorated to a point where students were owed for months. The implication is that graduating students often risk overstaying their visa as they struggle to source for necessary funds to buy tickets home. In countries like Russia and Ukraine over staying ones visas comes with heavy penalty such as imprisonment or outright deportation without notice.
Late last year, the Association of Nigerian Scholarship Students in Russia took extreme measures by threatening a peaceful sit in protests to disrupt Embassy activities at the premises of the Nigerian embassy in Moscow if their stipends were not paid.
In order to forestall such extreme measures, the Federal Government recently approved N400 million for the payment of upkeep allowances of Nigerian students on foreign scholarships. Hindatu Abdullahi, the acting Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Education, 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 overhead allocation but capital allocation. She said the plight of the students was being taken seriously, adding that the ministry is working closely with the Federal Ministry of Finance to obtain the allocation.
I sincerely hope we can, as a country, begin to take the interest of our citizens seriously, especially our youths. When are we going to understand that human development is the greatest asset any reasonable country can hope for? What do we do with these students who are trained in specialised courses with state funds? We need to know.
