Citing paucity of funds, the Rivers State Government has stopped the foreign scholarship initiative of the immediate past Rotimi Amaechi administration, making uncertain the future of 350 students. PRECIOUS DIKEWOHA reports on the plight of the students and their parents as well as the government’s efforts to manage the situation.
THe 350 Rivers State students withdrawn from universities abroad are not happy with the government.
They have described their transfer from well-equipped universities in the United Kingdom, Canada, among other countries to higher institutions at home as unfortunate and painful. Some of them are stranded because Nigerian universities do not offer their courses.
They wondered why it was in their time that the government discontinued foreign scholarship.
The scholarship was initiated by former Governor Rotimi Amaechi.
Some beneficiaries have completed their degrees, and even done their masters or Ph.D, or started working abroad.
But, those who got their scholarship a year or two before the expiration of Amaechi’s tenure were not so lucky. Governor Ezenwo Nyesom Wike, who succeeded Amaechi, discontinued the scholarship, citing economic challenges for his action.
He directed that the students return home to continue their studies. His administration, he said, would not abandon the students but would offer them opportunity to study in any university of their choice.
The governor said his administration, had settled the school fees of students in their final year.
The students’ pains
Some of the students told The Nation that they would have stayed back but their host countries insisted that their visas would not be renewed if their school fees were not paid.
The students are bitter that since their returning in February, some of them are yet to be absorbed into any university.
One of them Anokuru Fortune, who was studying Computer Systems Engineering at the Nottingham Trent University, said he was sad because he was preparing for his second year when he had to return home.
“It is getting to three months since I returned from the United Kingdom. We are still confidently waiting to be absorbed into any Nigerian university. The only thing is that the joy of schooling outside the country has been jeopardised,” he said.
Clinton Amadi, also from the Nottingharm Trent University, is worried that no university in Nigeria offers his course, Computer Software Engineering.
“I am still searching for a university in Nigeria that offers my course; it is not all about coming back but to get a university that is offering the course we are doing over there. The truth is that not all the courses offered abroad is being studied in Nigerian universities,” he said.
Amadi debunked claims that the government had paid for final year students.
“I was surprised to hear that the government has paid the fees of final year students; but over there they said no money was paid into their accounts.”
Charity Chukwu, a second year student at the Bedfordshire University, United Kingdom (UK) has not given up completing her Electrical Engineering programme over there. She spoke of plans by her family to raise funds for her return to the UK.
Condemning the decision to stop the scholarship, Charity said: “It is like showing a strong Christian heaven and telling him or her to turn back. The truth is that not everybody will return to Nigeria; it is an opportunity offered to youths to become something and be like others. It is very painful to see yourself at the airport getting ticket to return home like a slave.
“As for me I am going back to UK to continue with my studies, I have already made my arrangement.”
Anokuru said the uncertainty of continuing at home made some students not to return. He said they took low-paying jobs to eke out a living.
“Many students are suffering over there; some of them don’t want to come back to continue their studies here because they are not sure if the promise of securing admission in Nigeria would be kept.
“Their only option was to work in supermarkets, restaurants and others where a good number of them is presently working. Maybe with their income and the assistance of their relatives back home they could renew their visas, but they will still find it difficult to pay school fees.”
With limited opportunities to survive without funding, Charity said some students may turn to crime.
Parents’ lament
The joy of having children on scholarship abroad has turned to sorrow for many parents.
Association of Students on Scholarship Abroad president Mr. Gift Amadi, said beyond being forced to come back when they would have preferred to complete their education abroad, some students are stranded, without food or accommodation, and cannot come home because the government is owing their schools.
Amadi said: “Some of the students expected to come back home cannot come because their various universities have seized their transcripts due to the refusal of the Rivers State government to pay their bills. The students are suffering over there. The students cannot come back to Nigeria without their transcripts which will help them to secure admission here.
“The major problem they have now is the issue of accommodation. Most of them are now hanging out with their foreign friends even as they struggle to feed. Don’t forget the final year students have been stopped from participating in the revision over there.”
Confirming Amadi’s claim, one of the stranded students, Paul Adim, told The Nation on phone that they cannot attend classes.
“There has not been any good communication between the school and the students abroad. As I am talking to you now they have stopped us from participating in the revision class. We are no longer talking about continuing our education; all we are talking about now is how to feed and to see where to put our heads when night comes. Things are very difficult for us here. Only God can save us from our present frustration. My regret is that some of us may end up in prison abroad before help may finally come.”
Mr. Edmond Amakiri, a parent, said his son was living in precarious conditions.
He said: “Today, my son is living in a house where there is no water heater. He said somebody was hospitalised before now because there was no heater.
“All we are saying is that they went there alive and we will not accept them back dead. The government should assist the students to complete their studies and come back to boost the manpower resources that are needed.”
Another parent, Mrs. Johnson Ohiahuru, appealed to the government to enter into agreements with the foreign universities to amicably solve the problems.
“My own is a passionate plea for our beloved governor to consider the plight of these children. As far as I am concerned, the governor is the father of the state; we don’t want our children to turn to something else and we will not accept that,” she said.
RSSDA’s response
Mr. Larry Pepple, Executive Director/Chief Executive Officer, Rivers State Sustainable Development Agency (RSSDA), the organ that runs the scholarship, said it was not the government’s intention to make the students suffer.
Pepple said the prevailing economic realities make it difficult to continue with the scholarship. He said many states were owing salaries, adding that even the RSSDA workers have not been paid.
He said: “Whenever I speak about this scholarship, I speak with a heavy heart because I am a father. Rivers State government used to receive a statutory allocation of between N11 and N15 billion, with Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) of about N15 billion; but last month the allocation was N3.5 billion or less. The wage bill of the government is over N9 billion.
“Rivers State government is affected, so government met and decided that it will no longer carry the burden of sponsoring foreign scholarship but can afford to sponsor them locally in Nigerian universities; and that only final year students can stay behind.
“The rest of them, which are over 188, will have to return to Nigeria but not to return to their homes but to return to new schools within Nigeria offering their courses. But that is the challenge we are facing.”
The RSSDA boss said he had met with the affected students’ parents more than twice, and written to the students to explain the situation. He said some have refused to accept reality.
“We have met three times with the parents; we have also written to all the individual students. A child that has being exposed to good environment, a place where electricity does not go off, a place where internet access is so easy, and you are asking him or her to return they will feel bad.
“Some parents would rather the government continues to fund the education of their children abroad than have them return to Nigeria; but this is the stage we are now. When we met the parents they made us to enter into serious prayer sessions to see if the government could change its mind, but the governor is also trying.”
To address the problem, Pepple said the students have been categorized into three according to their parents’ ability to fund their education on their own.
He said: “We have identified three categories of students – one – those whose parent are financially buoyant; they can pay out rightly and about two parents have agreed to continue with their children’s sponsorship.
“Second category is people who will struggle to provide. Technically we can assist them to negotiate on how to get access to dollar and other processes. We would also make the foreign universities to know that sponsorship has changed hand from government to individuals so they can make things easy for them. At least, if they cannot pay at the beginning of the year, they can stagger to pay in stages.
“And the third category is those whose parents cannot pay. We have gone ahead to enter into agreement with University of Port Harcourt (UNIPORT), Rivers State University of Science and Technology (RSUST), School of Nursing and other universities in Nigeria. RSUST and UNIPORT have already given us provisional admission pending when the students will return with their transcripts.
“The last results the foreign universities sent us, we have used to start negotiating with the universities here while we are waiting to clear their backlog of bills. We want the parents and the students to not only calm down but to adjust with the present reality.”
