Bayelsa Approves Fees for Stranded Students Abroad

By Emmanuel Addeh in Yenagoa
The Bayelsa state government has approved the payment of sundry fees for its students studying in the  United Kingdom (UK), the United States of America (USA), Russia and Ghana.

A statement by the Chief Press Secretary to the State Governor, Mr Daniel Iworiso-Markson, said Mr Seriake Dickson also released  £300,000 and $450,000  for the payment of tuition fees for students of the state on scholarship abroad.

He quoted the State Commissioner of Education, Deacon Markson Fefegha, as saying that the release of the funds, despite the sharp decline in the revenue accruing to the state, was a show of the government’s commitment to the education of its people.

He added that the release of £250,000 was made to offset tuition and other fees of Bayelsa students studying for their PhD degrees in the United Kingdom.

According to the him, the sum of $150,000 was also approved for Bayelsa students studying at the Lincoln University in the United States, as well as the payment if $40,000 to some Bayelsa students studying in Ghana.

The statement noted that Dickson had earlier approved the sum of $42,000 for students in Kursk, Russia, a month ago.

“The government also uses this opportunity to thank all beneficiaries, their parents and guardians for their understanding and appreciation of the plight of the government during the period of the delay in the payment.

“The present administration is committed to transforming the education sub-sector”, it said.

Some students from the state on scholarships studying abroad, especially at King’s University College, Ghana, had cried out this week over their unpaid school fees, stressing that they could be sent home anytime.

A human rights activist, Mr. Aluzu Augustine, who took up the case,  said the registrar of the school, Mr. Simion Isekpo, threatened to expel them if Bayelsa State Government failed to pay their fees.