₦airaland Forum

Seven soldiers have been reportedly killed in an ambush by bandits in Zamfara State.

The bandits were said to have attacked the Kangon Garacce community under the Dangulbi district of the Maru Local Government Area of Zamfara on Monday afternoon, killing several residents.

A resident of Dangulbi community, Lawal Dangulbi told Channels Television on Tuesday that the troops were responding to a distress call about the attack on the community when they fell into the bandits’ ambush.

“The bandits divided themselves, some were attacking the community while some were stationed outside the community to prevent the military from assisting the villagers, they ambushed the troops and killed seven of them,” he stated.

According to him, no fewer than 20 residents of the community were killed during the attack.

Although the Nigerian Army authorities in Zamfara State have yet to comment on the incident, a security source who is familiar with the situation but preferred anonymity because he is not authorised to speak to media confirmed the attack to Channels Television.

He said seven officers of the Nigerian Army were killed during the attack on Monday.

Zamfara is one of the states worst hit by banditry. Others include Kaduna, Katsina, Kebbi, Niger and Sokoto.

Besides carrying out attacks, the bandits also carry out mass abductions for ransom in North-West and Central Nigeria, holding their captives in camps hidden in vast forests that stretch across the region.

Despite efforts by security agencies and the respective state governments, the gunmen have continued to wreak havoc, killing many.

Bobloco:
#RenewedShege

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Mass Burial: Amnesty International Demands Coroner’s Inquest, Identities Of 103 ENDSARS Victims

https://www.channelstv.com/2023/07/24/mass-burial-amnesty-international-demands-coroner-inquest-identities-of-103-endsars-victims/

THE first casualty of war is the truth.” This statement has been attributed to so many philosophers, politicians, and writers, including one-time United States Senator, Hiram Johnson, in 1918, Dr Samuel Johnson in 1758, or even the ancient Greek dramatist Aeschylus around 550 BC. But the concern here is not who said what and when, it is simply about the quote’s striking poignancy to war as well as to politics, especially Nigeria’s.

Specifically, a good number of writers have been referring to the divergence between what the All Progressives Congress presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu, promised on the soapbox and the policy measures his government is churning out now. The recent criticism, among many, was the statement credited to him promising to crash the prices of petrol once elected to office. Instead of a crash, the prices have been galloping to only God knows where.

If we agree with Carl Clausewitz’s most famous saying about war, that it is the continuation of politics (policy) by other means, it follows immediately that the first casualty of politics, as it is of war, is the truth. War, Clausewitz says, is an act of violence intended to compel our opponent to fulfil our will.

Though without a shooting war, that was exactly what happened when Candidate Tinubu was fighting arguably the fiercest battle of his life to become president. Of course, most politicians believe what they don’t say and promise what they don’t believe. Now that the war is over and he has got the job, especially against the will of the array of forces lined up against him, he should come clean with us. Is he truly for us or deceptively against us?



Ọmọ Nàìjíríà Sọ̀rọ̀ Nípa Ètò Ẹ̀yáwó Akẹ́kọ̀ọ́ Lọ́dọ̀ Ìjọba Àti Owó Ilé-ìwé Tó Gbẹ́nu Sókè | Punch
[b]In 1999, we set out with a retired general and a one-time military ruler, Olusegun Obasanjo, who thought and acted as if Nigeria began and ended with him. He ended up in failure. Umaru Yar’Adua, though did not last long in office, the few policy measures, especially in preposterously revoking the sale of three of the refineries and reversing the unbundling of state-run NEPA, sent a dangerous signal about where he stood on the economy. [/b]Later, we were burdened with the clueless five-year rule of Goodluck Jonathan and another eight-year feckless regime of Muhammadu Buhari. Between them, they share the inglorious record of turning most Nigerians into hewers of wood and drawers of water amid abundant national wealth.

It follows immediately whether Tinubu’s pledge of renewed hope will not also end in despair like his two most irritable predecessors, Jonathan and Buhari.

Again, Nigerians appear to be facing an uncertain future. Let’s forgive him for his soap-box rhetoric and his mesmerising promises. But let’s take him up on the Tinubu that we know.


Tinubu, we know strongly, believes in true federalism where the centre is not overbearing on the constituent units. It is on record that Tinubu’s David as Lagos State governor faced Obasanjo’s Goliath as Nigeria’s president between 1999 and 2007 on some basic elements of federalism and never blinked. He believes, too, in a free-market economy where supply and demand regulate production and labour as opposed to government intervention. On these scores, we both speak the same language.


But Tinubu is setting out on sail in an arrogant manner, which could end in disaster. Oscar-winning filmmaker James Cameron says “arrogance and hubris” led to disaster for both the RMS Titanic and the submersible heading to tour the wreckage of the doomed ocean liner. The other ghastly fault of the RMS Titanic was the communication error. A recent Irish Times revelation says that the Titanic hitting the iceberg could be down to a misunderstanding because of two confusing steering systems. Arrogance and communication gap are two dangerous elements of bad leadership. Tinubu should purge his government of both.

I wrote recently that the problems facing the country are well known. They include the rapid depreciation of the currency Naira; sinking economy; rising inflation; worsening insecurity; debilitating and collapsing public infrastructure; poor public facilities, especially in education and health. But solving most of these challenges of nation-building is not rocket science. It simply involves the emergence of a leader with courage and productive knowledge. I’m choosing my words very carefully: productive knowledge not just any academic knowledge. If such a leader emerges or has emerged, these are the minimum imperative decisions he must implement quickly.

First, he should accelerate the process of returning Nigeria to functioning federalism. The type of pseudo-federal system we practise could be likened to a six-plug engine vehicle that its owner insists on driving with three plugs! There are other low-hanging fruits that the Tinubu government could work on to bring immediate relief to the economy and the people.

He should take drastic actions to end the dollarisation of the Nigerian economy and through executive orders, compel Ministries, Departments and Agencies to patronise Nigeria’s made goods and services. Other measures that call for immediate attention are the need to sell off some loss-making public enterprises, especially the four obsolete government refineries with speed and the imperativeness of encouraging and promoting private refineries towards local sufficiency in petroleum products.

Effective communication equally suffers a huge deficiency in this government. It is improbable to assign your public communication to the same set of people you went to war with after victory. The mentality and strategy of going to and waging a war are quite different from the mentality and strategy of making peace and building a nation: one is destructive while the other is constructive. Destructive bullying should replace constructive engagement in the presidential communication machine by now. We want to see humility instead of arrogance; we want to feel the rising tides of prosperity and the still waters of peace, and we want to experience the indicators of crisis turning into signs of renewed hope.

I hope the Tinubu administration will be concerned about how to curb the inflation rate and boost the value of the currency as the first line of attack. He also appears to have the courage to step on big toes. Tough decisions taken so far include the stoppage of petrol subsidy, CBN’s revoking of Bureau de Change licences, effective orders to security chiefs in dealing with terrorists and the CBN’s floating of the naira. These are the courageous and right things to do. But he should refrain from putting the cart before the horse. Petrol subsidy was tainted with monumental corruption and resource distortion: it should go. But there are a few things he could have done before ending the petrol subsidy. Government palliatives can’t resolve the adverse effects of that, sound public policy measures will. I perfectly understand the argument that if he didn’t do it immediately, he might be overwhelmed with the sentiments surrounding the subsidy removal. But a man of courage should not entertain undue sentimentalism.

Is Tinubu, therefore, birthing a renewed hope for the thoroughly abused and mindlessly impoverished people of Nigeria? My take for now: let’s give him a chance.

The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) has expressed concern over President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration policies “inflicting hardship” on Nigerians, calling for immediate measures that would alleviate the sufferings.

President of CAN, Archbishop Daniel Okoh, on Friday in a statement, however, commended the President for some of his policies, including national appointments meant to foster unity in the nation.

“Against the backdrop of the recent unprecedented hikes in fuel prices and alarming inflation, the national leadership of the CAN wishes to express its deepest concerns over the prevailing hardships faced by Nigerians, and calls for immediate steps to mitigate the situation.

“While Nigerians were trying to adjust to the initial increase in fuel price to N540 and its consequential effect on cost of transportation, food, goods and services, and general cost of living, another hike alluded to market forces took the price to N617. The situation is just unbearable for millions of Nigerians who were already suffering poverty.

“It is therefore imperative that economic policies are formulated and implemented with utmost care and consideration for the prevailing hardships experienced by Nigerians,” Okoh said.

On appointments, the CAN leader noted that the trajectory which the present administration had set from the onset to provide all-inclusive governance is worthy of commendation.

He said, “The national balance seen in the recent appointment of Service Chiefs is heart-warming and re-assuring that every segment of the Nigerian society is critical and important in the Nigerian project. The CAN therefore commends the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for showing commitment towards building a united, peaceful and progressive Nigeria.”

He also urged the government to engage with critical stakeholders in a meaningful dialogue to explore sustainable solutions to the current situation, including developing comprehensive economic policies that promote inclusive growth, job creation, and social well-being.

“Government should take measures to reduce the price of fuel. Such measures should include removal of unnecessary levies and taxes on imported petroleum products, the stabilization of the foreign exchange market and putting back our local refineries to functional and effective use.

“We appeal to Nigerians for more patience while urging government to take urgent steps to ameliorate their sufferings. Let us work together to build an economy that is inclusive, resilient, and offers opportunities for every Nigerian to thrive,” Okoh said.

Nigeria’s electricity gen eration, yesterday, dropped Week-on-Week, by 16.4 per cent to 3,501.20 megawatts, MW, from 4,187.6 MW recorded Thursday, last week.

Checks by Vanguard indicated the situation occurred because of many factors, including the poor state of plants and low gas supply to thermal plants.


The development has pushed the Electricity Distribution Companies, DISCOs, to embark on load shedding in order to spread the limited electricity to many at different times.

This is coming as the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) says eleven electricity distribution companies, DISCOs, have filed an application for rate review with the commission.

The request for rate review, according to NERC, is premised on the need to incorporate changes in macroeconomic parameters and other factors affecting the quality of service, operations and sustainability of the companies.

Meanwhile, Powercom Smart Grid Nigeria (PSGN) has announced its acquisition of Kano Electricity Distribution Plc(KEDCO).

PSGN is a subsidiary of Powercom and specializes in delivering an “end-to end” Smart Grid/Smart Metering turnkey solution.

In a statement made available to Vanguard yesterday, PSGN said the acquisition presents a significant opportunity for KEDCO to implement a comprehensive turnaround plan aimed at improving performance and efficiency.

It stated: “PSGN Turnaround Plan encompasses a strategic approach to address the challenges faced by KEDCO and transform it into a highly efficient and financially viable electricity distribution company supporting 5 million customers.

“The plan focuses on revenue enhancement, operational performance optimization, revenue collection, customer service, and overall system reliability.PSGN will supply KEDCO smart electricity endpoints including the full backbone infrastructure to manage the grid.


“The project is meant to upgrade the existing distribution grid into a modern platform, addressing services such as: Revenue Enhancement, Reduction of Energy Losses, Debt Recovery, Reduction of Outages, Grid Optimization, Asset Recording, Asset Protection, Peak Load Management; Workforce Automation, reducing operational expenditure and improving customer service. PSGN ‘turnkey’ solution includes the Vending Platform and a Control Room with GIS visualization for grid management.”

Vice President Kashim Shettima on Sunday said military offensives alone could not sustainably resolve the security crisis in Nigeria’s Northwest.

He said, rather, it would take a mix of kinetic and non-kinetic strategies to restore calm in the troubled region.

“Unless we want to engage in an endless war of attrition, there cannot be a military solution to the crisis in the northwest. There has to be a kinetic and non-kinetic solution,” Shettima said in a chat with journalists when he paid condolence visits to the Galadanci and Mangal families in Kano and Katsina, respectively.

The State House Director of Information, Office of the Vice President, Olusola Abiola, revealed this in a statement he signed on Sunday titled ‘President Tinubu’s solution to insecurity, poverty in northern Nigeria underway, says VP Shettima.’

The Vice President revealed that the Tinubu administration will, in the coming weeks, unveil an initiative to address insurgency and poverty, among other challenges confronting Nigerians, especially those living in the northern region.

“In the next couple of weeks, we will unveil the Pulaaku solution, which will address the grievances and social exclusion of our Fulbe cousins in the northwest and also towards addressing the root causes of all the banditry and insurgency in the nation,” he explained.

Pulaaku also called the “Fulani code of conduct,” is an integral cultural and ethical value system specific to the Fulanis.

Encompassing a broad range of norms, behaviors, and social practices seen as distinctly Fulani, Pulaaku is a major factor binding Fulanis together across different regions, despite linguistic and regional variations.

Central to Pulaaku are the concepts of patience, self-control, discipline, prudence, modesty, respect for others (including enemies), bravery, courage, hard work, and wisdom.

Thus, maintaining a calm and composed demeanor, especially during periods of difficulty and adversity, is highly valued.

Adherents are not to openly display emotions such as anger or pain. This is tied to the Fulani ideal of munyal, which signifies endurance, patience, and self-control.

On the plan to address challenges confronting Nigerians, the VP said, “The President is determined to define the meaning and concept of modern governance and the crisis we have in the northwest, which is further accentuated by poverty.”

He added that “The social exclusion is also something that the President is determined to confront frontally and in the coming weeks, he is going to unveil the Pulaku solution.”

Earlier on arrival in Kano, the Vice President, who was received by Governor Abba Yusuf, proceeded to the residence of the Emir of Bichi, Nasiru Ado Bayero, where he commiserated with him on the passing of the late Imam Galadanci, expressing President Tinubu’s condolences.

From the Emir of Bichi’s residence, the VP proceeded to the family compound of the late Abubakar Galadanci, where he was received by Prof. Shehu Galadanci and Air Vice Marshal Nura Imam (retd) on behalf of the extended family.

The Vice President, on behalf of President Bola Tinubu, expressed his condolences and prayed to Allah to grant the deceased eternal rest as well as console the entire Galadanci family.

Prof Galadanci, who thanked the Vice President for the visit on behalf of the family, stressed the need for unity of purpose among northern leaders and urged Nigerians to always support the Tinubu administration in prayers and otherwise for the success of its programmes and policies.

From Kano, Shettima departed to Katsina to condole renowned businessman Dahiru Mangal over the demise of his first wife, Aisha Dahiru, who died Saturday evening in Abuja after a brief illness.

Mangal has since been buried according to Islamic rites.

VP Shettima was accompanied by the Deputy Senate President, Sen. Barau Jibrin, a member of the House of Representatives from Kano, Abdulmumin Jibrin, and Senior Special Assistant to the President on Political Matters, Ibrahim Masari.

Many Nigerian students are facing tough times in the United Kingdom after the naira equivalent of their tuition fees increased by over 60 per cent following the recent move by the Central Bank of Nigeria to unify the nation’s foreign exchange rates.

About two weeks after President Bola Tinubu promised to unify the nation’s multiple exchange rates, the apex bank decided to float the naira at the Investors and Exporters’ Window of the foreign exchange market. Since then, the naira has fallen from N471/dollar to N750/dollar and N589.4/pound to N957.2/pound.

This has led to about 60 per cent increase in tuition fees for students in the UK.

This rise in exchange rate has put more pressure on many Nigerians that are schooling in the UK and beyond.

The UK is one of the destinations of choice for many Nigerians as 128,770 Nigerian students enrolled in universities in the United Kingdom between 2015 and 2022 according to data from the Higher Education Statistics Agency of the UK.

According to the CBN, study-related foreign exchange outflow to the UK rose to $2.5bn in 2022. Nigerian students and their dependants in the United Kingdom contribute about £1.9bn annually to the UK economy, according to an analysis by SBM Intelligence.

Many of these students may now struggle to pay the balance of their tuition due to the sharp decline in the value of the naira.

UK universities are currently on break.

Students lament hike

A Nigerian student resident in Manchester, Adejoro Deborah, who sounded stressed told The PUNCH, “This policy is affecting those of us here and even intending students. My sibling has had to forfeit her admission because of this policy.

“Many students have fallen victim to online scammers just because they want to buy pounds, a friend of mine, for example, was a victim of third-party purchase as the banks at home are not dependable.”

Another Nigerian student studying in Leeds explained that the major challenge was that many kept their tuition fees in their naira account at the former rate.

The student said, “Now they have to start looking for more money because the rate has gone up. If the official rate is not different from street rate, so what’s the essence of waiting for several weeks for your bank when you can just get it from third-party platform. It has only put more pressure on the students to look for more money.”

The student added, “If you put N5m in your account in March when the rate was around N560/£, that means it will pay around £9k tuition fee, but by July, the N5m will only be able to pay around £5k since the rate is now around 1k/£, so that’s where the real problem is. You need to start looking for an additional £4k. That’s the challenges many students are facing.”

Another Nigerian, who is currently studying at Liverpool John Moores University, has become stranded after the school withdrew his access to the school portal.

His access to the university’s portal was withdrawn by the school following his failure to pay his tuition. The Nigerian (name withheld) could not raise the required 4,800 pounds to complete his tuition.

Narrating his ordeal to The PUNCH, he said, “The school has withdrawn my access to its platform. As a result, I can’t check the results of my last exam. Everything is done via the platform. I cannot also access my official email given by the school. I can’t attend both online and in-person classes again. It is very frustrating, I am completely shut out.”

The depressed student, who is allowed to work for 20 hours a week as a student, said he could not get a better job because prospective employers were demanding proof that he is allowed to work as a student.

He added, “In fairness to the school, I was given several deadlines which I missed. I could not pay because I was unable to raise enough funds to buy foreign exchange. The exchange rate is very high.”

Another student (name withheld) of the school, said he was on the verge of losing his studentship before he managed to borrow money from friends in Nigeria to pay his tuition.

He shared a copy of a letter that had been addressed to him giving him a final deadline to pay the outstanding tuition.

The letter read in part, “According to our records there is an outstanding balance of £4800 on your university tuition fee account. LJMU has advised you of this situation via emails to both your LJMU and personal email addresses.

“Despite this correspondence, the debt remains outstanding and accordingly, we are now arranging for you to be withdrawn as a student of the University. If this happens, UK Visas and Immigration will be informed that you are no longer a student at LJMU.”

The letter was sent by the Head of Registry Services of the school.

A student, studying IT Project Management at Teesside University, lamented to The PUNCH that many Nigerian students are still in shock.

She said, “Some people are not totally stable because they used to convert their naira to pounds for school fees payment.”

She explained that while she did not benefit from the official rate initially, she still has to pay more now. She said “When I got in initially, I converted at the rate of N920-935 thereabout. But after the CBN reforms, it has been a nightmare. The highest I did a while ago was N990. But today, it is about N1008, if not more.”

Another Nigerian student (name withheld), who is studying at Strathclyde University, explained that the new exchange rate might cause him to drop out of school.

He said, “This new reality has called for a review of the whole plan entirely. Everything has to reset at the end of the year.

“My year is ending in October/November but I now have to review everything. I am running a Ph.D. programme and the cost is 20,000 pounds a year. When we were using Form A and the official rate was about N600, it was about N11m.”

He noted that his budget when he started was between N33m –N35m for the entire programme. He stated, “Now, I will be looking at N20m for the second year and N40m in total for my remaining two years.

“This is causing me to rethink my plans, because I can’t spend that type of money on this. N40m is a lot, especially on those at home that are sponsoring this, it doesn’t sound reasonable. This will impact how I will continue with my course.”

Speaking on the matter, a student currently studying in the UK, who simply identified herself as Shalewa said, “When I started schooling in London in 2017, pounds was about N300 or less. I am still in school and now I had to pay N1,000 for one pound. 19,500 pounds to naira means that my mum will be coughing out millions that she should be using for retirement.”

An international multimedia journalist and student based in the UK, Michael Orodare, noted that the suffering of many Nigerian students is an open secret.

He said while many people had tried to use Form A to pay their tuition fee balance, earlier, banks had delayed with excuses, including issues around tax clearance.

He said, “A lot of students are finding it difficult to pay their tuition. What many Nigerian students here are now trying to do is to use the naira in their account to try and buy pounds which is now more than N1000. This is now more expensive and making fee payment very difficult for Nigerian students.”

Intending students worry

The increase in the cost of forex is also affecting many Nigerians intending to study in the UK.

For many of them, Proof of Funds is the most problematic part of their application process now.

According to an education consultant, Oyebode Omolewa, Proof of Funds is a student’s tuition balance plus living expenses. She stated that it is a crucial requirement for students planning to go to the UK as it proves to the UK government that a student has the capacity to take care of themselves while studying.

She noted that the rates are now dependent on when student submit their visa applications. She explained that when the official rate was around N560 – N600, students’ proof of funds was lower.

Omolewa said, “Proof of funds is the student’s tuition balance plus living expenses. For example, if a student’s tuition is about 15,000 pounds, and they pay 5,000 pounds to the university, their proof of funds will be the 10,000 pounds balance plus living expenses.

“If the school is located outside of London, the cost of living is 9,207 pounds, if it is in London, it is 12,006 pounds. Let’s say we have a 10,000 pounds balance, if the school is outside London which is 9,207 pounds, when you add the two together, you will have 19,207 pounds multiplied by the exchange rate on the day you applied for a visa.

“If it was N1000 on the day it was 19,207 pounds multiplied by N1,000 before it used to be about N580 multiplied by 19,207 pounds.”

Omolewa further explained that PoF has been affected a lot, especially for students trying to go with their family members.

She noted that PoFs have almost doubled. She said, “PoF has almost doubled. This is likely to affect the number of people applying for study Visas now because if you were planning N15 million initially and now you need about N6 million extra if you don’t have it, you will just have to wait until you get it.”

Another student, who is planning to leave by August, said the PoFs had increased considerably with many intending students struggling to meet up.

He said, “When you calculate PoF now, the least you will get is about N1,100. It has really affected it, and it is not a good one. If you wanted to do a PoF of 19,000 pounds, before now you would need N16 million in your account. But now, you would have nothing less than N24 million for a 19,000 pounds PoF.”

Another intending UK-bound student, who only gave her name as Titi, stated that when she started her visa processing, PoF was pegged at N600/pound. According to her, she would have fallen victim to the new exchange rate if not that she applied less than a week before the change.

She noted that her PoF which was N9.8 million is now over N16 million. She told The PUNCH, “I am still good on my PoF, it was still less than N9.8 million. The Friday before the 12th of June, someone asked me to apply for my visa.

“Thank God for countries like the UK where your PoF will be determined based on the exchange rate of the day you apply. That was my saving grace. I applied on that Friday, and by the following week, exchange rate had gone up.

“My PoF was a little above N9.5 million. By the following week, it hit N16 million. I was going to be judged according to the exchange rate on the day of my application, but the thing is if I had applied a little later than I did, my PoF would have risen to over N16 million. I am just an average Nigerian, I don’t have one N6 million, N8 million somewhere. I would have needed about N17 million if I was late.”

According to her, she would have deferred her admission if she had applied after the exchange rate went up.

A Nigerian student in the UK, who didn’t want her name in print, explained to The PUNCH that her brother is currently in the process of relocating to the UK through the study route.

She noted that her family is currently looking for an extra N7 million to N8 million because of the new exchange rate.

She said, “We are on the PoF matter for my brother, and we just have to get more money. He has not yet applied as we are just getting his CAS, this new exchange rate is biting.

“Under the old exchange rate, we needed about N6 million to N8 million, but now we need N14 million to N15 million. As of this morning, a pound is N1000+. When it was my turn, all my calculation was at N600, for my brother it is at N1000. There is a N400 difference that is choking everyone. It is financially more demanding and constraining.”

Form A challenge

Form A, which is an application form designed by the CBN to pay for service transactions such as school fees, medical fees, and more, allows customers to purchase funds at the CBN or interbank rate to make payments for these services.

Lamenting on how frustrating the Form A is, an LLM student at the University of Birmingham, who did not want her name disclosed told The PUNCH, “I opened my Form A in April and at the time, I was to pay N1.8m and of course, I was waiting for processing days.

“Now, with the new policy, I need N3.1m. So, even though I have the N1.8m, the money that I require now is twice the amount. So, I can’t have the Form A processed.”

A senior officer of a popular commercial bank who spoke to our correspondent under the condition of anonymity noted that despite the floating of the naira which has highly affected the exchange rate, the bank still receives huge requests of FX [Form A].

The officer said, “We still have a long queue and what we do is that we give priorities to our corporate customers. It was expected that the new policy would actually make things better, but it has not. The rates are higher, and people still come in. Some of the Form A requests were even brought in before the new policy was implemented. “

A travel consultant, Samuel Agboola, affirmed to The PUNCH, “Many people who left to study in the UK still don’t have their fees processed by Nigerian banks. The banks deducted the money from their accounts but have yet to do the conversion and pay their schools. Now the exchange rate has changed, and they have to pay more. That is the reality.”

78,679 Nigerians

Meanwhile, no fewer than 78,679 international students from Nigeria are currently studying in the UK, United States of America, Canada, and Ukraine, an analysis by The PUNCH has shown. The figure excludes Nigerians who study in these countries but did not process their admissions from Nigeria.

According to the Higher Education Statistics Agency of the United Kingdom, as of December 2022, there were about 44,195 international students from Nigeria in UK institutions with average tuition fees between £11,000 – £32,000.

Findings by our correspondent also revealed that Nigerians are most concentrated in schools like the University of Hertfordshire, University of Salford, University of Leeds, University of Portsmouth, University of Birmingham, and the University of Nottingham remained some of the universities in the UK.

Nigerian parents plead with FG

The National President of the National Parents Teachers Association, Haruna Danjuma in an interview with The PUNCH pleaded with the Federal Government to intervene in the FX crisis.

Danjuma said, “If you ask for my honest opinion, I will say the Federal Government should help all those involved because when you look at it, it is not their fault.

“Also, one of the reasons people even go abroad in the first place is because of the situation of things in our institutions. We need the government to work together with parents and academics to find a way in which we can solve the problems in the education sector.”

Commenting on next steps, he stated, “I will raise the issue with my executives, and we will issue an official position. You know as the national president I can’t just take any position without other members. I will raise the matter.”

While lamenting the effect of the new forex policy, a parent, Akinjagunla Paul, though resident in the United Kingdom begged the President to help out students who applied for Form As before the new FX regime was implemented.

He said, “It is important for the President to be informed that he needs to urgently grant concessions to Nigerian students abroad who initiated their Form A requests for payment of school fees before the new FX regime was introduced, rates have increased from about N550 to N1,000.”

Nemere2020:
https://nairametrics.com/2023/07/11/uk-pounds-sells-above-n1000-1-at-black-market-for-5-straight-days/