by Usman Alabi
Nigerian students on scholarship under a bilateral educational agreement with Russia are currently experiencing hardship due to the inability of the Nigerian government to fulfill its own part of the scholarship agreement.
In the scholarship agreement, the Russian government was to take care of the tuition and accommodation while the Nigerian government was to cater for the students’ upkeep including their medical and warm clothing fees. The $500 stipends has not been paid for twelve months.
The students complained that the situation has left them borrowing while some of their colleagues are left with no other option than to get the money through illegal means or risk being thrown out of the hostel.
The students have approached the Nigerian embassy in Russia, yet nothing had been done. They are however planning to hold a protest at the Nigerian embassy in Russia despite threat from the embassy to revoke their scholarship if they stage the protest.
Perhaps the effect of the recession is not only biting hard on Nigerians within the country, but it is also taking its toll on everything that has government imprint. The Russian government is fulfilling its own part of the bilateral educational agreement, but the other party is not.
You would recall that some states in the country were also not able to finance their foreign students and they had to call them back home. Do you think it is wise for the government to bring them back home if they are unable to continue with the payment; or could it be that it is a question of negligence and insensitivity on the part of the Nigerian government. share your views with us on this issue.
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