Help!! Amnesty students abandoned Abroad

President, Ijaw Youth Council Worldwide, Mr. Udengs Eradiri, has raised the alarm over the plight of over 6,000 Niger Delta students on Federal Government’s scholarships in some
foreign universities. He said the authorities of the foreign
universities had started delisting the students, majority of whom were Ijaws, due to the alleged Federal Government’s failure to pay the students’ fees.
Eradiri, who made the revelation at a news conference on Tuesday in Yenagoa, appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari and other well meaning Nigerians to wade into the matter to
save the students. He said the students’ plight was compounded by the vacuum in the Presidential Amnesty Programme because of absence of an administrator for the programme.
The IYC boss said the amnesty programme had of recent been beset with a lot of bureaucratic bottlenecks due to absence of an administrator.
He therefore urged President Buhari to appoint an administrator for the programme or do whatever he could with “the executive power he wields to ensure that somebody begins to take
responsibility in that office.”
He said he had been under intense pressure in trying to maintain the peace in the region because stipends to ex-agitators had not been paid for the last two months. Eradiri said he and other Ijaw leaders had been appealing for calm and for them not to take to
the streets, nor go back to the creeks.
ones that are undergoing university training as
a result of the amnesty programme in various
countries – America, United Kingdom, London,
South Africa and other African countries
where we have young Nigerians.
“These young Nigerians who are undergoing
education and training scattered round the
world, because of the bureaucratic nature of
the programme, the funding used to be month
by month, most of the upkeep of the students
is usually on a monthly basis.
But for two months now, the students have
not been paid; the financial obligations to the
institutions have not been met and so we heard
the shocking news that some of the
institutions have started delisting some of the
students studying there.
“As for the UK, we know that rents are paid
monthly and when the stipends are paid, these
students also pay their rent. As I speak to you,
a lot of them now are being thrown out of
their accommodation; they are all on the
streets.”
He said the matter was getting to a breaking
point where they could no longer hold them
(youths) back because “we have been doing that
with just the word of mouth and the goodwill
we enjoy as leaders. But when government fails
to do their own part, then very unfortunately,
we will not be able to maintain the peace as it
was in the last few months.”lleged Federal Government’s failure to pay the
students’ fees.
Eradiri, who made the revelation at a news
conference on Tuesday in Yenagoa, appealed to
President Muhammadu Buhari and other well
meaning Nigerians to wade into the matter to
save the students.
He said the students’ plight was compounded by
the vacuum in the Presidential Amnesty
Programme because of absence of an
administrator for the programme.
The IYC boss said the amnesty programme had
of recent been beset with a lot of bureaucratic
bottlenecks due to absence of an
administrator.
He therefore urged President Buhari to appoint
an administrator for the programme or do
whatever he could with “the executive power he
wields to ensure that somebody begins to take
responsibility in that office.”
He said he had been under intense pressure in
trying to maintain the peace in the region
because stipends to ex-agitators had not been
paid for the last two months.
Eradiri said he and other Ijaw leaders had been
appealing for calm and for them not to take to
the streets, nor go back to the creeks.
He stressed that they had been appealing to
them to give President Buhari an opportunity
to run government.
“I want to use this opportunity to call on the
Niger Delta leaders, well meaning Nigerians and
President Muhammadu Buhari to the fact that
the cause of the vacuum in the presidential
amnesty programme is as a result of the
change in leadership.
“It has begun to tell on the lives of our young
ones that are undergoing university training as
a result of the amnesty programme in various
countries – America, United Kingdom, London,
South Africa and other African countries
where we have young Nigerians.
“These young Nigerians who are undergoing
education and training scattered round the
world, because of the bureaucratic nature of
the programme, the funding used to be month
by month, most of the upkeep of the students
is usually on a monthly basis.