Samuel Ogbonna, a Nigerian student on
scholarship stranded in the United Kingdom for want of sponsorship,
shares his experience with CHUX OHAI
Samuel Ogbonna, 24, is among 150
Nigerians studying in the United Kingdom on scholarships, who may be
forced to return home before Christmas because their funding has been
stopped by their sponsors.
A British newspaper, The Sunday
Telegraph, first brought the plight of these students to the knowledge
of the public in a publication that recently caused a stir in the
education sector in Nigeria.
Ogbonna, in an online interview with our
correspondent, painted a disturbing picture of the condition in which
he and his fellow compatriots have found themselves in the UK.
Saddled with debts of up to £20,000
each, most of them, especially those who completed their courses last
academic session, have been informed by their respective universities
that they will not receive their degree certification.
Ogbonna, like many others, has been
evicted from his apartment on campus for failing to pay his rent and now
lives with some of his friends outside the university.
“It is difficult for me here because I
don’t receive any support from home. My mum, a single parent who works
as a civil servant, barely has enough to assist me financially. I have
had to depend on the friends and families that I met here for food and
shelter,” he told our correspondent.
Narrating how he came to find himself in
such a situation, he said, “Right from my first year of study at the
university, the Rivers State Government through the agency, the Rivers
State Sustainable Development Agency, delayed payment of my school fees
and maintenance fee. It only got worse as time went on.
“At some point, my colleagues and I were
owed maintenance/upkeep money for 15 months. As a result, we were in
debt for several months. Most of us couldn’t afford to pay our rent as
there was no money. Some students were kicked out of their residences,
especially those living in private houses. Those of us who lived in the
university were threatened several times with lawsuits for breaching our
contracts.
“Several months after it failed to pay
our upkeep money and tuition fees, the state government officially
announced in 2016 that they were going to withdraw funding for our
scholarships. By this time, some students had already been kicked out of
their courses.
“Some institutions, such as the
University of Huddersfield, even sent delegates to Nigeria to discuss
with the government on how they could resolve this issue, maybe come up
with a plan on how fees can be cleared, but nothing positive came out of
that.”
Ogbonna also said the government did not
pay his second year fees. As a result, he is unable to proceed to final
year. In September, the management of the University of Leeds placed
him on temporary leave. This means that he will not be allowed to attend
classes until he clears his outstanding fees.
It got to a point that he was forced to open a gofundme account online to raise funds from charity and well meaning individuals.
“Although I have managed to find a paid
job, as an international student I have limited permission to work. This
means that I am restricted to only part time hours of employment. This
continues to make it very difficult for me to gather enough money to
clear my outstanding charges and financially plan for my final year.
“Apart from this, my fees cost so much
that I can’t afford it. Now I have to raise two times the amount to pay
my second year and final year fees, respectively,” he explained.
A few weeks ago, it looked as if fortune
was about to smile on Ogbonna and his fellow students when Governor
Nyesom Wike of Rivers State visited London. But their hopes were dashed
when the governor declined to address them.
Ogbonna said, “We felt it would be a
good opportunity to speak with him directly about our condition and our
struggles. But this did not go as we expected because the governor
refused to grant us audience. I was there in London and I saw for myself
how he treated us.
“My colleagues and I waited outside the
Chatham House for him to give us an explanation and also tell us how and
when the funds will be released to clear our fees but he refused to
talk to us.
“However, inside the house, he did
answer a question regarding the scholarship. According to him, the
scholarship was cancelled because the previous administration had
awarded the scholarships to children of their political aides. And also,
that the courses we were studying were those like Economics, English,
Philosophy that can be studied back home. But that is not true.”
Asked what he thought might be the state
government’s real motive for withdrawing funding for those studying
abroad, he replied, “I suspect that the political rift between the
previous and the present administration is the real and main reason for
the cancelation of the scholarship.”
However, Ogbonna has appealed to
well-meaning Nigerians to assist him financially to complete his
education. “My desire is to return to school, complete my degree and
become a graduate so that I can apply the skills that I have acquired to
the benefit of the society,” he said.
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