-About 100 Nigerian students shortlisted for Russian scholarship may lose the opportunity as the Federal Scholarship Board (FSB) claims it doesn’t have fund to sponsor their trip
- The scholarship’s cost which is between $14,000 and $20,000 is covered by Russian government
- Nigerian government only needs to pay the students’ trip and stipend
Nigerian students shortlisted for Russian scholarship may lose the opportunity as the federal government says it can’t afford to sponsor their trip to Russia.
The students will forfeit the scholarship opportunity if the federal government fails to pay for their flight tickets and agree to cover their stipend before Wednesday, December 13, PremiumTimes reports.
The Russian scholarship is a yearly programme given to Nigerians to study courses such as Medicine, Engineering and so on.
Candidates are selected after passing through a rigorous selection process.
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The successful candidates are chosen after a rigorous selection process that includes writing exercises and interviews.
NAIJ.com gathered that the scholarship cost is covered by the Russian government but Nigerian government has to pay for the flight tickets of the students to Russia and give them a monthly living stipend throughout their courses’ duration.
One of the successful candidates who was annoyed with the federal government’s refusal to pay for the trip lamented on Twitter thus: “As of 6th December, the FGN says it can’t afford to pay the airfare to Russia for these students to get free Education in Medicine, Engineering, etc.”
He said that successful candidates from other countries are already in Russia taking their compulsory language courses.
He further added that: “The Minister for Education, his Perm Sec & many top officials of the FGN are aware of this grotesque & callous throwing away of an opportunity of a lifetime for humble students who don’t have a voice. If a child of the rich and mighty was involved, they’d long be on their way.”
Despite the refusal of the Nigerian government to pay for the trip, NAIJ.com gathered that the Russian Embassy is making efforts to ensure that the students do not forfeit the opportunity.
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PremiumTimes said it got access to a letter sent to the students where there embassy stated that it was ready to waive the visa fees for the student and even extended the application deadline.
The letter read: “According to the Nigerian Scholarship Board’s information, the authority cannot provide funding for transfer to the Russian Federation and its part of academic allowances for the Nigerian students, enrolled in Russian Universities under the Scholarship program of 2017,” the letter read.
“Under these circumstances, an option of a self-funded trip to Russia has been brought under consideration.
“Given the current situation, the Embassy of the Russian Federation in Nigeria, acting under an agreement with the Russian universities, confirms its readiness to provide free visa assistance for Nigerian participants of the scholarship program of 2017, who decide to embark on the study at their own expenses.
“Please be mindful of the fact that the issue of further allowances payment should be addressed directly to the Scholarship Board of Nigeria and resolved therewith.
“The deadline to confirm your resolution to travel to Russia at your own expenses and to provide your flight details is December 8, 2017.
“For those, who opt for this opportunity, the date to collect the Russian student entry visas together with other scholarship-related documents, submitted earlier to the Embassy, is December 13, 2017, at 12:00 pm. Please be on time and enter through the consular gates.”
One of the successful candidates who pleaded anonymity said the Federal Scholarship Board (FSB) has directed them to get an approval from the Ministry of Education before continuing the scholarship process.
He said: “We discussed with the FSB director and she said the FSB does not have the fund to sponsor our trip to Russia but we should write to the Minister of Education so that he can endorse our scholarship and the release of our fund. The FSB director said if we sponsor our trip to Russian with the endorsement from the ministry, we would be doing so as private students and we won’t receive stipend or award from the government.”
Efforts to get the FSB’s side of the story have not been successful as the assistant director of FSB said the FSB director who has details of the matter wasn’t available.
NAIJ.com previously reported that a 24-year-old Nigerian Doctor Toluwalase Awoyemi emerged winner of the 2018 Rhodes Scholarships.
Toluwalase and his co-winner will commence studies at the prestigious University of Oxford, United Kingdom in October 2018.
16-year-old American-born Nigerian tennis player is proud of her roots On NAIJ.com TV:
Source: Naija.ng