The
students, studying in St Vincent and Grenadines in the Caribbean, under
the Rivers State Scholarship scheme, have resorted to stealing and
other fraudulent acts to survive, because they are being starved of
their monthly allowances and tuition fees, for close to two years.
The aggrieved final year students said
that two of them who are billed to graduate with the other 14 this
October, went into stealing when it was apparent they didn’t know where
their next meal will come from. .
At the time Vanguardngr reported this
news, some of the students confirmed that they had not eaten for three
days, let alone pay school fees. According to them, their living
conditions degenerated to a level where they beg for alms in churches to
survive, as their landlords ejected them from their apartments due to
non-payment of rent, compelling many of them to live in the streets.
The school authorities have also stopped
them from completing their remaining clinical rotations before
graduation. The 16 medical students were the candidates the Rivers State
Government awarded scholarships in 2013 under the Rivers State
Sustainable Development Agency, RSSDA.
They are accusing the Rivers State
Government of abandoning them to suffer for close to two years in a
strange land without any explanation. While confirming the report, the
Executive Director of RSSDA, Larry Pepple, affirmed that the 16 students
are owed 17 months living allowances and tuition fees. .
According to him, the government of
Rivers State has already made it public that it will only look after
those who are already in their final year overseas, because the state
government is struggling due to scarcity of funds. .
His words:
‘’The ones that are in the final year, the governor has given approval for everything to be paid to them so that they can conclude and return. But unfortunately, this approval as we speak, is yet to translate to cash, because of the limited resources.’’
No comments:
Post a Comment