Kano state government has approved the release of N210 million as part of the foreign scholarship payment of some of the students from the state who are studying at the Mansoura University in the Republic of Egypt.
The government said the move is geared at encouraging scholarship and a way of assisting new generations of students of the state origin in accessing education.
Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, who made this disclosure in a statement made available to BusinessDay, explained that the money also includes the payment of the outstanding fees of the 37 students, recently pardoned for circulating abusive letter about the government.
According to him, the amount to be released is precisely about N210 million which are to be used for the payment of their outstanding tuition and maintenance fees.
It could be recalled that sometime last year, those students wrote an apology letter and sent it to the governor, regretting their action.
Read also: Kano to reduce 2020 annual budget by 30%
In a letter commendation sent to the state government, a copy which was also made available to the BusinessDay reads: “We are the 37 students of Mansoura University, who were earlier removed from the government’s sponsorship due to some misinformation communicated between the University authorities and the government. That misinformation had generated some sequence of events that led to the government’s decision to bring us back home.
“Your Excellency Sir, we know our issues had generated a lot of politicking and controversies in the past. Some political actors have used us in order to achieve their political ambition. The former governor of Kano state had even promised to continue with our sponsorship to the end of our studies, but he failed to do so.
“We all the 37 students are unanimously thanking the governor Ganduje as we now understand and we have come forth to accept all our mistakes and apologize for all the wrongdoings done to the government in our names. We have been foolish and naive. And we hope Your Excellency will forgive us. We solicit the kind gesture of Your Excellency to rescue our lives as sons and daughters and indigenes of Kano state”, the Letter further reads
A breakdown of the approved money indicates that sum of N48 million out of the total amount was for outstanding tuition and maintenance fees in respect of 6 sponsored students of October 6 University, Egypt brings the total sum of money to N258 million paid for the students in the two Egypt universities by the administration.
As a way of ameliorating the suffering of internal students in the face of the ravaging COVID-19 pandemic, governor Ganduje promised an upward review of students’ scholarship allowances, an exercise that has eluded the state for the past 15 years.
Join BusinessDay whatsapp Channel, to stay up to date
Open In Whatsapp
