Stats: 3,186,465 members, 7,929,547 topics. Date: Friday, 23 August 2024 at 04:23 PM |
Nairaland Forum / Nairaland / General / Education / FG BEA Scholarship Awardees In Russia Weep Say We Skip Meals To Survive (1469 Views)
Bilateral Education Agreement (BEA) Scholarship Awards - 2018/2019 / FG Bilateral Education Agreement (BEA) Scholarship Awards 2017/2018 / FG Bilateral Education Agreement (BEA) Scholarship Awards 2016/2017 - Apply Now (2) (3) (4)
FG BEA Scholarship Awardees In Russia Weep Say We Skip Meals To Survive by LogoDWhiz(m): 3:20pm On Sep 25, 2015 |
Failure of the Federal Government to pay the allowances of Nigerian students on the Bilateral Education Agreement scholarship in Russia exposes the beneficiaries to frustration, TOLUWANI ENIOLA writes SAMUEL Adewale’s dream to study in a good university came true in 2013 when he received a letter of admission from the Don State Technical University, Rostov on Don, Russia. After writing a series of tests and interviews, Adewale’s joy knew no bounds when the Federal Scholarship Board announced his name along with other students granted the Bilateral Education Agreement Scholarship Awards. He said, “When I learnt that I won the scholarship, I felt really excited. I never thought that I would be awarded a scholarship, since I knew studying outside the shores of Nigeria cost a lot of money. Against this backdrop, I must appreciate the Federal Government’s gesture.” But the twist to this development is government’s failure to pay his allowances. It has caused him suffering and hardship. Nigeria has BEA for undergraduate and postgraduate 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 country where the scholarship award is tenable, provides the tuition. The tough times that Adewale and 371 other Nigerian students on the BEA scholarship now face in their various universities in Russia, due to unpaid rents and other allowances, make them to wonder whether the exercise is targeted at punishing him. The students, who went through a rigorous process to emerge beneficiaries of the programme, are imagining whether they are actually on a scholarship due to the failure of the Federal Government to fulfil its part of the BEA. Sharing his ordeal with our correspondent in an electronic mail, Adewale lamented that the Federal Government had abandoned the BEA scholars. He said, “This unpaid stipend has affected my studies and that of many of my colleagues badly. During the holidays, many of us would sleep late at night (sometimes not until 4am or 5am) just to make sure we skip breakfast and lunch. For me particularly, when I wake up at about 3pm, I will brush my teeth and drink water. Then, I wait till 7 or 8pm before I start hustling for what to eat. Normally, I do not eat breakfast before going to school. I do that after all my lectures and I make sure I eat two times at night because I know that I am not going to take anything for breakfast. But eating twice is not even possible anymore because there is no money to buy foodstuff. “Nowadays we go to bed and to classes on empty stomachs. Besides, many of us have not been able to pay our hostel fees. Soon, we will have to renew our visas and health insurance schemes. These problems affect us greatly. “Often, when I get to class, instead of concentrating on lectures, I would be thinking of how to deal with these problems. Another student who sent a picture of his colleague eating Manka (Russian semovita) without soup, said the life they face in the former Soviet Union Republic was better imagined than told. According to the first-year student of the Tver State Technical University, Russia, who simply gave his name as Tosin, the picture is just a tip of the iceberg of the challenges that they face. He added, “This picture literally explains most of the things I could not write in my mail. This is how bad it is now. We are currently facing hard times and unfortunately, people in Nigeria do not seem to take us seriously because they feel that even without money – we are enjoying here.” For 22-year-old Otokhagua Imhoisili, studying Software Engineering at the St. Petersburg State Electrotechnical University, the authorities have yet to pay them any allowance in the last nine months. Imhoisili, who explained that they had not received their monthly feeding allowance of $500 as well as $450 annual medical and clothing allowances, noted that in totality the authorities owed each of the beneficiaries $4,000. |
Re: FG BEA Scholarship Awardees In Russia Weep Say We Skip Meals To Survive by LogoDWhiz(m): 3:24pm On Sep 25, 2015 |
He said, “From January till date, none of these allowances have been paid by the government, despite repeated appeals and representations to the Nigerian Embassy in Moscow and the Federal Ministry of Education in Abuja. St. Petersburg happens to be the second largest city in Russia .The standard of living is very high. As a result, studying has become difficult lately. The recent crisis that hit Russia also contributes to this, especially as prices of goods in the country have skyrocketed.” But Daniel Romooluwa, a second-year Design and Technological Support for Machinery Productions student at the Belgorod State Technological University, went philosophical about their dilemma, declaring that the issue had become a recurring decimal. Romooluwa noted, however, that students from other countries enjoying the BEA offer got their stipends as and when due. He said, “I would not be exaggerating if I say that it is only my dear Nigeria that treats her best brains in such a terrible manner. The issue of these unpaid stipends has really affected me. “This non-payment or late payment of stipends is an annual problem. Every year, we go through the same process of agitation and reaching out to media houses to tell our pitiable plight. We are keeping our end of the bargain by striving and succeeding in our studies. This is quite evident in the number of Nigerians who have graduated with first class honours in Russia. If we are keeping our end of the deal, I believe it is not too much to ask the Nigerian government to keep its own part too.” Our correspondent learnt that the inability to get work permit by foreign students in Russia is a major challenge. It is illegal to work as a foreign student in Russia. For Oluwafemi John, who is pursuing his Master’s degree at the Kazan Federal University, Kazan, the no-work permit for foreign students has been a huge minus in their drive to survive in the country. According to him, since they do not have the permission to engage in legitimate jobs, they are attracted to all manner of oddities to survive. He said, “There are difficulties in finding good jobs. First is the lack of suitable jobs for foreigners in many Russian cities. For the few available international jobs, consideration is given to students from European countries, America and even South Africa before Nigerians. Again, the language barrier is another obstacle. Lack of work permit that allows you to work and study in various cities in Russia is probably the greatest challenge.” Sharing his survival tactics, Bode Ngochindo, a postgraduate student at the Don State Technical University, said he did menial jobs for his friends from other countries so that he could eat. He said, “I am a good cook. Sometimes, I cook for my friends from other countries so I can get a share from their food. That is one of my means of surviving. “One day, I visited my friend from Angola in another school and when I wanted to leave, he offered me a pack that contained six eggs, two packs of rice, chicken, cooking oil, onions and tea. He said, ‘I understand what you guys are passing through, please just manage this.’ That day, I cried for my colleagues and myself.” Ngochindo, who is the vice-president of the Association of Nigerian Scholarship Students in Russia, called on President Muhammadu Buhari to help them to secure the payment of their eight months’ allowances. He said, “The All Progressives Congress-led Federal Government was elected on the promise of change. We want change in the way we are treated. We, the association of Nigerian Students in Russia, are pleading with our President to come to our aid. Things are getting difficult day by day. We are begging Mr. President to have mercy on us. He should please solve this hydra-headed problem.” When contacted on Monday, the Director, Press and Public Relations, Federal Ministry of Education, Mr. Olu Lipede, initially was not forthcoming with any response. He, however, later sent a text, which read, “Government has just released part of 2015 capital allocation. The Federal Ministry of Education is working on processing the remittance to scholars abroad.” When The PUNCH reported the ordeals of Nigerian students in Russia last year, Lipede blamed the hiccup on the “budgeting process” and problems associated with “banking transfers.” Reacting to the plight of the students on Monday, a professor of Political Science at the University of Abuja, Dauda Saleh, blamed the neglect on corruption in the civil service. He urged Buhari to seek an end to what he called the perennial problem. He said, “The inability of the Federal Government to pay these students and fulfil its part of the agreement shows clearly our lack of commitment to the development of human capital. It is not proper for students on scholarship have to resort to media campaign for them to get their dues. “I feel that it is part of the corruption and the bureaucracy in our polity. It shows that our system does not function effectively. The way out is to have a functional system where people would do what they are expected to do. From a foreign policy perspective, it portends us as a country that is not serious and gives us a bad image.” A lecturer at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Prof. Francis Fagbohun, who faulted the scholarship scheme, described the government’s failure to pay the allowances as an insult to Nigeria. He said, “The BEA scholarship scheme was faulty from the outset. Nigeria is not a socialist state. However, that our students go through this problem yearly is an insult. Succeeding governments should fulfil their responsibility and alleviate the suffering of these students.” PunchNg Source: _nigerianuniversityscholarships.com/federal-government-bea-scholarship-awardees-in-russia-weep-say-we-skip-meals-to-survive/ Cc: lalasticlala obinoscopy |
Re: FG BEA Scholarship Awardees In Russia Weep Say We Skip Meals To Survive by daveP(m): 12:27am On Sep 26, 2015 |
Scholarships Of Nowadays are not like back then, the recipients usually enjoyed and call loved ones with a smile. good story gone sour! |
Re: FG BEA Scholarship Awardees In Russia Weep Say We Skip Meals To Survive by LogoDWhiz(m): 12:49am On Sep 26, 2015 |
daveP: Yea. Things have gone bad. |
Re: FG BEA Scholarship Awardees In Russia Weep Say We Skip Meals To Survive by Goldenboy842(m): 6:48am On Sep 26, 2015 |
Its really bad. Those with web brain can work online wic might help a little. |
Re: FG BEA Scholarship Awardees In Russia Weep Say We Skip Meals To Survive by daveP(m): 11:52am On Sep 26, 2015 |
LogoDWhiz:there are goods ones out there, but i shy away cos the surface story looks rosy and vice versa when one is inside already. |
Re: FG BEA Scholarship Awardees In Russia Weep Say We Skip Meals To Survive by LogoDWhiz(m): 1:36pm On Sep 26, 2015 |
daveP: Yeah. That's true. |
(1) (Reply)
Kwarapoly Hnd Admission Form (ft/pt) And Nd (pt)2017/2018 / Spss,eview,stata...how Much Can I Make With Them? / 2018/2019 (oscotech, Esa Oke Poly ) Whatsapp Group
(Go Up)
Sections: politics (1) business autos (1) jobs (1) career education (1) romance computers phones travel sports fashion health religion celebs tv-movies music-radio literature webmasters programming techmarket Links: (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) (10) Nairaland - Copyright © 2005 - 2024 Oluwaseun Osewa. All rights reserved. See How To Advertise. 36 |