Unpaid fees: Zamfara govt rescues 88 students stranded in Cyprus varsity

The Zamfara State Government has provided intervention to alleviate the sufferings and difficulties being faced by 93 students from the state-sponsored by the previous administration of former Governor of the State, Alhaji Bello Muhammed Matawalle to study different courses at the Cyprus International University.

Zamfara State Governor, Dauda Lawal, on learning about the difficult situation of the students, who were said to have been abandoned to their fates since 2022, gave directive for speedy intervention to alleviate their plight including sending a delegation to see to the welfare of the affected students and interface with the University authorities.

The leader of the State government delegation to Cyprus International University and Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology, Mallam Wadatau Madawaki who briefed newsmen in Abuja, highlighted the despicable conditions of the students who were stopped from attending classes and feeding for almost a year.

Madawaki was flanked at the briefing by the Commissioner for Finance, Bello Mohammed Auta, Executive Secretary Scholarship Board, Professor Rasheedah Aliyu Liman, who were also part of the 3-man delegation and Special Assistant on Finance and Economic Matters, Barau Muazu.

The latest intervention by Governor Lawal has seen Zamfara government spending over N224 million in payment of accumulated debt profile of tuition fees, accommodation and upkeep of students.

He said: “At the inception of the present administration of Governor Dauda Lawal, his attention was drawn to the difficult situation being faced by the students in Cyprus.

“His Excellency Dauda Lawal quickly swung into action and directed the Secretary to the State Government (SSG) to engage with the university and find out what was the burden of debt being owed by the State Government.

“The Secretary to the state government arranged zoom meeting with the university authorities and it was at that point the rot manifested itself as the university presented an outrageous debt profile owed by the government,” he stated.

Armed with facts during the visit to Cyprus, the Commissioner for Education, said the news conference was called to clarify issues and to put the records straight so as to disabuse the minds of the general public, most especially the parents of those students sent to study at the Cyprus International University by the previous administration.

He recalled that the administration of former Governor Bello Muhammed Matawalle sponsored 93 Zamfara indigenes to study different courses at the Cyprus International University in the year 2020.

He explained that the students were simply left at the “mercy of the university authorities by unpatriotic elements” who cashed in on the poor arrangement to make fast money and the face of the difficulties five (5) out of the 93 students left the university remaining 88.

“Right from the beginning the process was fraught with dishonesty and outright selfishness as there is no documentary evidence of any type showing Memorandum of Understanding signed between the University and the previous administration that sponsored the students.

“All records available to the present administration at the Ministry of Education, Scholarship Board and the University showed that a “Consultant” was hired who negotiated between the previous administration and the university, processed admissions and traveling documents for the students and delivered them to the university authority.

“In the negotiation, it was arranged that the students would be in a system that is tagged ‘Full package’. In that arrangement, the students’ accommodation and feeding were handed over to the university authority and whether the students ate meal or not for whatever reason, they will be charged by the school authority as having eaten.

“That was a very unfair arrangement that has formed part of the difficulties faced by the students.

“From the year 2022, the previous administration of Governor Bello Matawalle abdicated from its responsibilities of funding the students’ studies at the Cyprus International University as tuition fees, accommodation and feeding allowances were not paid to the university authorities thereby exposing the students to hardships and difficult conditions.

“That by extension caused the accumulation of huge debt by the previous administration which continued up to the end of its life span Monday, May 29th 2023.

“The university authority presented a debt of tuition fees being owed by the government even when they knew they had stopped the students from attending lectures for almost one year,” he stated.

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