₦airaland Forum

The bill is dead on arrival. Nsukka people and their foolish mentality sha...

Failure by the Federal Government to pay allowances of 322 Nigerian students on scholarship in Russia forces them into begging and illegal jobs, TEMITAYO FAMUTIMI reports

When Moyosore Ojuri lost her father at age 11, her world practically came crashing. Her father had promised to give her the best of education. Although he was not a millionaire, the man had struggled to enrol her in one of the top private secondary schools in Lagos.

But with the death, her mother, a retired civil servant, could not pay her tuition when due. Luckily, the authorities of her school recognised the young lady’s academic exploits and gave her family the concession to pay her tuition in installments. Even with that, her mother had difficulty doing so as she occasionally ran into debts.

However, on completion of her secondary education in 2010, Ojuri passed the West African Senior School Certificate Examination, obtaining six distinctions and two credits. But accessing university education did not come that easy, due to lack of funds. Fortunately for her, in 2012 she came across the Bilateral Education Agreement Scholarship Awards advertised by the Federal Scholarship Board through the Federal Ministry of Education and grabbed the opportunity.

Ojuri passed the series of tests and interviews and was given admission to study Metallurgical Engineering at the Volgograd State Technical University, Russia. On touching down at the Domodedovo International Airport, Moscow, Russia on September 22, 2012, Ojuri concluded that her pains and frustration had come to an end.

Nigeria has BEA for undergraduate and post-graduate studies with Russia, Cuba, Morocco, Algeria, Romania, Ukraine, Turkey, Egypt, Japan, Serbia, Macedonia, China, and Mexico. Under the arrangement, the Federal Government pays for the upkeep of the students, while the countries where the scholarship award is tenable provides the tuition.

Two years after, Ojuri has a different story to share. Speaking with our correspondent on the telephone from Volgograd, she says that the Federal Government has since abandoned the BEA scholars to starve to death.

According to her, for eight months running now, the over 322 promising Nigerian students on the BEA initiative in the former Soviet Union have not been paid a dime by the government. Each of the beneficiaries’ monthly stipends for feeding is $500, while their annual allowance for medicals and clothing is $450 each.

But from January till date, none of these allowances have been paid by the Nigerian government, despite repeated appeals and other forms of representations to the Nigerian Embassy in Moscow and the Federal Ministry of Education in Abuja.

Following the non-remittance of funds, Ojuri and her Nigerian colleagues, of late, have no choice but to borrow money as a survival strategy from their fellow African students enjoying similar BEA.

The 20-year-old asks rhetorically, “We are not private students. We came to Russia on the bill of the Federal Government. Why haven’t the authorities paid our stipends and other allowances for eight months now? For how long shall we continue to borrow money?”

The youngster, who says she has a huge debt on her neck at present, notes that their colleagues from other countries are no longer comfortable lending them money.

She adds, “On many occasions, I have had cause to go to class on an empty stomach. Getting money for transportation from my hostel to school has become very problematic. More worrisome is the fact that I will soon be homeless as my hostel fees will expire at the end of August. We are grateful to the Federal Government for the scholarship opportunity, but there is no sense in leaving us here to starve to death in a foreign land.”

Findings by our correspondent reveal that the inability to get work permit by foreign students in Russia is further compounding their problems. So, how do they survive the starvation and hard times in the Eurasian country?

Another Nigerian, Akinola Akindamola, pursuing his Master’s degree at the Volgograd State Technical University, explains that they engage in all kinds of oddities to survive. According to him, the pressure is even more on his female colleagues.

Akindamola, a first class Mechanical Engineering graduate, says, “It is unfortunate that girls with exceptional academic brilliance are now forced to indulge in all manner of indecent lifestyles. These girls now go to clubs and dance semi nude for a fee that could be as low as $20. For the boys, employers use us for odd jobs, such as clearing of snow and as labourers on construction sites. Even as we do that, there is this perpetual fear that the police will arrest us.”

A final year Medicine and Surgery student of the Russian National Research Medical University, Moscow, David Ikenna, also admits that the failure of the Federal Government to remit their allowances exposes them to risks in the country.

Ikenna states, “We have been finding a way to survive by circumventing the laws, but it is at great risk to our personal safety and academic pursuits in Russia. Our situation is frustrating. My brother, we are suffering. How I wish I could bring you here to see how miserable our conditions are. The Nigerian government has failed us miserably.

“Even with the illegal jobs we do, we still find it hard to make ends meet. It is shameful that we have got no alternatives but to beg for food and money from Ghanaians, Namibians, Ugandans and Sierra Leoneans who are on the same bilateral educational scholarships like us.”

Besides welfare, some of the students who are to return to Nigeria for their mandatory internship programmes are also stuck in Russia, due to lack of funds.

Julfa Timkuk, a student of International Law at the Southern Western University, Rostov, Russia, wonders if they were indeed on a scholarship. The 25-year-old, who hails from the Langtang North Local Government Area of Plateau State, says he now lives on cheap white bread.

“My colleagues and I are tired of clearing snow, working at warehouses or helping to lift heavy equipment at night. Our suffering is no longer bearable. Please do us a favour and beg them to free us from this slavery in a foreign land,” he appeals.

But appraising the situation, a Professor of Microbiology, University of Ilorin, Poju Akinyanju, chides the Federal Government for sending the students overseas on scholarship without making proper funding arrangement for them. The experience, he says, is not only traumatising to the scholars but also a dent on Nigeria’s image.

He states, “It is unfortunate that they do not care about these youngsters. Are you telling me that the authorities cannot pay for the students’ stipends? There must have been some budgetary provisions for them. How can these traumatised students be loyal and patriotic to their fatherland when they eventually return home?”

Also, a lecturer at the University of Lagos, Prof. Alani Ramoni, describes the condition of the students as unfortunate. According to him, even under the military regime he enjoyed his scholarship offer without any hindrance.

When contacted, the Director, Press and Public Relations, Federal Ministry of Education, Mr. Olu Lipede, confirmed that there were challenges remitting the money to the students. He nonetheless blamed their travails on the “budgeting process” and problems associated with “banking transfers.”

Prodded to be specific on when the students will be paid, Lipede states, “That I cannot say because I am not the Central Bank of Nigeria. There are processes between the Federal Ministry of Education and the CBN as well as between the CBN and Nigeria’s foreign missions.”

Lipede adds, “We do care about their welfare. Last year (2013), we went to visit them in Russia and we inspected where they sleep and we made known to the Russian Government those things we were not satisfied with. These students have been told that their money will be remitted to them. If there is any delay it should not be blamed on the ministry.”

But a source familiar with the administration of the scholarship scheme says the matter is beyond the Federal Ministry of Education.

According to the source, the students have yet to get their allowance because there has not been a release for their payments.

The source adds, “It is beyond us in the Ministry of Education. Their money is in capital allocation. How do we go ahead and circumvent the rules? Their stipends should be extricated from the regular budget. Unless this is done, they would continue to experience this problem every year.”
http://www.punchng.com/news/students-on-fg-scholarship-begging-for-food-in-russia/

There is nothing new here. Lagos is messed up

Nwa di ok!
Igbo babes and pretty......

Another Rochas Okorocha scam

barcanista: I beg to disagree with Amaechi here. Bokoharam people are not nilitants but terrorist. Militants have cause that they are fighting for but terrorists have non other than sinister and wicked motive. Jonathan govt should adopt intelligence and brute force to end bh. Amaechi statement is inciteful here. I am very disappointed. I luv Amaechi but what he said amount to incitement against the government, which is unacceptable! Let's play politics without bitterness

Welcome back

Now i know that Amaechi is a fool

Ordinary Monkey?

Hw it take concern us?

If they like

stinggy: And yet some fooolish nairalanders will come everyday to call yorubas bad names.
This will never happen in Aba or Onitsha.


Nice move Folashade, let's show them why we're called 'sophisticated people'.

Rise Above Hate.

Stop consoling your self. Igbo follow own lagos

God bless d pope

The National Association of Animal Hunters has called for the immediate sack of Nigeria?s minister of Health, Dr Onyebuchi Chukwu, over the public notices and expert opinion issued by his ministry that Nigerians should avoid eating certain types of bush animals. The association said such information was not only misleading but wicked and worthy of punitive action against the perpetrators, adding that it has led Nigerians to “unnecessary panic, denied Nigerians of access to nutritious, God-given bush meat” and that it was a threat to the livelihood of animal hunters...Read more>>>http://afikpochic..com/2014/08/ebolanigeria-animal-hunters-association.html

Those who voted for GEJ in 2011 will still vote for him in 2015 no doubt i.e
Ogun
Lagos
Ekiti
Ondo
Oyo etc

Muhammad is the worst criminal ever to be born anywhere in the world.
Muhammad was a sick , demon possesed individual who was worshipping the devil and deceitfully called him God to deceive people. The sooner people leave islam, the better.

Arab scientists have invented a time-travel device that can transport an entire country back to the middle ages.

They’re calling it ‘Islam’.

Militants in Iraq have killed about 80 Yazidis in a village in the north of the country, it has been claimed.

A Kurdish official told Reuters that Islamic State (IS) fighters had arrived in the village and demanded they abandon their beliefs.

A man from a neighbouring village, who had been told what happened, added: “The Islamic State had spent five days trying to persuade villagers to convert to Islam and … a long lecture was delivered about the subject today.”

“The men were gathered and shot dead.

“The women and girls were probably taken to Tal Afar because that is where the foreign fighters are.”

Another official and a Yazidi politician also confirmed the hour-long “massacre” had taken place.

Thousands of Yazidis – people from a minority sect with an ancient religion – have been forced to flee their homes by the IS advance.

The extremist group, previously called ISIS, has swept across a large part of northern and central Iraq, taking Mosul and threatening Baghdad and Kurdish capital Irbil.

Iraq’s human rights minister has said that Islamic State militants have killed at least 500 members of the Yazidi community during their offensive in the north.

Some of the victims, including women and children, were buried alive, Mohammed Shia al Sudani said.

The United Nations Security Council on Friday blacklisted six Islamist militants and threatened sanctions against anyone who helped arm or supply them.

Five members of the al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front, which operates in Syria, and Islamic State spokesman Abu Muhammad al Adnani were included on the British-drafted resolution, which also condemned all aspects of IS’s activities and beliefs.

Earlier, EU foreign ministers meeting in Brussels agreed to arm Kurdish fighters in northern Iraq.

The meeting of foreign ministers from the 28 EU nations was called by EU foreign policy chief Baroness Ashton and came after several European countries, including France and Germany, said they were prepared to supply weapons to the Peshmerga forces.
http://www.punchng.com/news/80-killed-by-is-in-iraq/

sunnyshayne: Prayer is good but this is purely a medical issue o.

God can heal all diseases. Stop doubting the power of God

BY NWABUEZE OKONKWO
Elders of Anambra North Senatorial Zone of Anambra State and Town union leaders in the zone have stated that they might consider  the immediate past Minister of Aviation, Princess Stella Oduah as the most credible person from the zone to become their next senator during the 2015 national assembly elections in the country.
The seat is presently occupied by Mrs. Margery Okadigbo, wife of late Dr. Chuba Okadigbo, a one-time Senate President. The zone is made up of seven local government areas, including Onitsha North, Onitsha South, Anambra East, Anambra West, Oyi, Ayameluma and Ogbaru.
Margery is from Oyi, while Oduah is from Ogbaru.The elders and town union leaders who gave this indication yesterday during a consultative forum in Onitsha, said since it was because of how Oduah brought an international airport to Igboland that led to her sack as a minister, they might consider paying her back for the good works she did for Ndigbo during her ministerial days.
The elders and town union leaders who spoke through Dr. Alex Obiogbolu, Elder Chris Eluemuno, Sylvester Odife Jnr., Nwachukwu Nwosu, Sylvanus Ohaemesi and Vin Obi, stated that if Oduah could perform creditable as the best Aviation Minister the country ever had in an appointed capacity, she could do better if she become an elected office holder like the senate.
They contended that somebody like Oduah could replicate her feat in the senatorial zone, like she did in the Aviation Ministry, if supported to clinch the senatorial seat in 2015.
http://www.vanguardngr.com/2014/08/2015-may-push-oduah-senate-anambra-elders/

skyface00: thats why they keep going offline why they had 2 off their data na by force 2 use fone....now u pinged some1 and ask them if they did gt ur masg u will be shocked when replying sorry i had 2 off my data.....go back 2 bb na jst 1k and u free urself of data wahala.....

Android users are suffering and smiling ........
MTN gives me 1 month and 3 weeks just for 1k.

Apart from android games I prefer my BB Q10.
https://de.blackberry.com/content/dam/blackBerry/images/device/smartphone/blackberry-10/q10/structured/q10/de/mobile/black/deviceHero.png/_jcr_content/renditions/mobile.lofi.png

How much are they selling shops there? I want to buy.... Nice one