FG Breaches Allowance Obligation to Nigerian Scholars in Russia

·       Recipients mount pressure on parents for survival

·       Envoy allays parents’ fear, say FG’ll soon pay them

Gboyega Akinsanmi

The federal government has failed to honour scholarship allowance obligations to its outstanding citizens currently undergoing undergraduate and graduate studies in Russia, concerned parents have revealed.

Consequently, according to the parents, hundreds of the scholarship recipients under the Nigeria-Russia Bilateral Education Agreement (BEA) are now mounting pressure on their parents in Nigeria for their survival and upkeep.

They expressed concern about the failure of the federal government at separate meetings with the Minister of State for Education, Mr. Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba and Nigerian Ambassador to Russia, Prof. Abdullahi Shehu in Abuja recently.

One of the parents, who spoke privately with THISDAY after the meetings, said the parents of the scholarship beneficiaries “are under undue pressure to support their wards in Russia, a federation at war with Ukraine.”

The parent revealed that the federal government had not remitted monthly allowance to the scholarship recipients for the past seven months while Russia kept its part of the agreement.

According to him, scholarship recipients are facing hardship in Russia because the federal government has not paid them their allowance for seven months. They have to resort to their parents to survive.

Another parent, also, told THISDAY confidently that the parents had agreed to send another delegation to prevail on the federal government to come to the aid of the students who are grappling with a spike in prices of foods and services in Russia.

He lamented that the condition of the students in Russia had been compounded by the biting effects of global sanctions against Russia over the war against Ukraine.

He acknowledged that a delegation of the parents’ body had met with the education minister last month that assured the parents that the ministry had sent the money to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for disbursement.

However, the spokesperson for the apex bank, Mr Nwanisobi Osita denied the minister’s claims, saying the CBN would have effected payment to the students had the education ministry submitted the necessary mandate.

Amidst the confusion among the parents, the Nigerian Ambassador to Russia claimed that he had met with the education minister as tension began to build between Russia and Ukraine to find a way to hasten the payment of the students’ allowance in Russia.

Addressing representatives of the parents at a forum recently, the envoy said: “I met with the Minister of Education two weeks ago. I told him there is a challenge and that the challenge is our students have not been paid for six months at that time.

“With the impact of the crisis, with winter, with several other factors, we believe that the federal government should do something urgently to ease their tension.

“Now, the government cannot pay the money through the bank because at the time I went to Nigeria, the process was already at the payment department of the CBN.

“So, we have informed the honourable minister to find a more innovative diplomatic way by which our students will not suffer any longer,” the ambassador explained.

He explained that already two of the embassy staff members “are in Abuja following up on the matter. We are not resting. We are doing all that is practicable to see that the pressure on you is eased as soon as possible.”