A young Nigerian’s educational dream is about being aborted due to lack of funds
When Oluseun Samuel Faleye received his letter of admission into Shenyang Aerospace University (SAU) in China in September, 2011, to study electronics and telecommunications engineering, in furtherance of his course at the Nigeria College of Aviation Technology, Zaria, his joy and that of his parents knew no bounds. Faleye had in 2011 concluded his diploma programme at the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology, Zaria, which on March 30 of the same year signed a memorandum of understanding with SAU for the purpose of admitting the college’s products for a two-year degree programme.
His father, Chief S.A. Faleye, had in a letter of consent to the consular-general in the Chinese Embassy in Lagos, undertaken to take full responsibility for the payment of his school fees and any other financial involvement, before things started going awry. Any parent would not have thought twice before consenting to such a project. Prior to the signing of the MOU with the Chinese university, products of the Nigeria College of Aviation Technology used to secure employment with the airlines or other aviation agencies with their diploma certificates. Faleye had hoped to get a job after the Zaria training.
However, a new policy which made it mandatory for those of them from the Zaria college seeking employment in the aviation agencies to have first degree came into being at about the time Faleye was leaving the college. This apparently informed the college’s decision to sign the MOU with the Chinese university so that the diploma holders would be able to go there for their first degree programme.
Faleye and his colleagues were thus in a quagmire, as none of those agencies employed the Zaria college’s diploma holder after that policy too k off; at least initially. It was after he had stayed at home for about a year doing nothing that his parents decided to fulfill all righteousness: if what would get him employment was obtaining the first degree in the Chinese university with which the college had signed an MOU, so be it. So, they pulled resources together to ensure that their investment on their son in the aviation college would not be in vain.
Unfortunately for him, it was after he had left for China that some of the aviation agencies changed their mind and recruited some of his colleagues. Unfortunately too, for him, things did not go as planned as they sometimes don’t. The projection of raising the about N4million needed for the school fees soon got derailed. And that is the challenge that Faleye is facing right now in China. As a matter of fact, his father, in his 70s, had to sell a few properties to ensure he completes his studies.
His programme which commenced in 2011 is supposed to end in July, just three months away. But Faleye, the last child of his parents, is in a quagmire: he is not sure of concluding the programme due to the financial challenges he is currently facing. About N1million is standing between him and the conclusion of his programme. If help does not come, all the investments in China since 2011 when he secured admission into the college would go down the drain.
When he realised the precarious situation in which he is, he managed to secure a teaching job in China. But that country is a no-nonsense country, they quickly stopped him because, as they said, the job is for their citizens. As things stand, Faleye is willing and ready to enter into agreement with any individual, corporate organisation or institution that is ready to offer assistance, on how the money would be repaid.
As a matter of fact, he is even contemplating deferring his course and returning home if it gets to that, at least pending when things improve, but he does not even have the means to transport himself back. That shows how tight things are. The story is too long to be captured here; but, this, essentially is the message.
Sadly, Faleye is probably not alone in this kind of an avoidable mess. One shudders at the number of our youths who are in dire straits and could have their fortune reversed simply because no one cares for them. The point is that Nigeria cares about no one in particular. It cannot pay pension to old people. It cannot ensure that its youths get access to good and qualitative education, and even when the youths manage to find their way, they are left hard and dry in the middle of nowhere if they suddenly run out of funds.
The sadder aspect is that most of those who’ climbed the ladder before removing it’ as it were (those who are now making things difficult for others today) benefited from one scholarship or government sponsorship or the other in their school days. They had the best of life in and out of school; many of their children enjoyed the same opportunities too. One would think the government should have some ‘crutches’ for people in Faleye’s shoes, some shoulder to lean on; unfortunately, the government thinks otherwise. Rather than put money where it has meaning, the government is pumping money into private businesses which the owners ran aground, in the name of bailouts. We have had these in the agricultural sector; we have had it in the textiles sector; we have even had it in the aviation sector which the government is threatening once again to give another round, in spite of the failure and ridiculous allegations that trailed the last bailout in that sector. It is not that bailouts are inherently bad; the problem in our circumstance is that, like most things Nigerian, they are abused and no one is punished for such abuses. As a matter of fact, bailout in Nigeria has become euphemism for doling out government money even to those who already have, to do as they please, when there are people out there genuinely in need of money but cannot have it.
The course that Faleye is studying that is about to be truncated at the ninety-ninth hour due to lack of funds, electronics and telecommunications engineering, is one that should be hot cake in the country. It is a course that any country with vision should be interested in.
Although Faleye is the reason for this piece, the point should not be lost on us, and particularly the governments at all levels, to begin to address in concrete terms the challenges that leave our serious-minded youths stranded, whether at home, or, worse still, in foreign lands, in pursuit of the proverbial golden fleece. This is the only thing that can check the inequity and iniquities in the system and also ensure that we all are able to sleep with our two eyes closed when tomorrow comes.
But, if you are touched and feel like helping, please contact Samuel Oluseun Faleye on phone number +8615040317741. Better still, you may wish to contact Richard Chen, the Dean of International Education College, Shenyang Aerospace University, 37, Daoyi South Avenue, Daoyi Development District, Shenyang, China, 110136 or phone 8624 89724578.
