No fewer than 194 state-sponsored medical students on Friday departed Jigawa for Northern Cyprus and India to complete their studies after being evacuated from Republic of Sudan.
The Executive Secretary, Jigawa State Scholarship Board, Mr Saidu Magaji while speaking in Dutse said that all necessary arrangements have been completed for their flight to those countries.
Magaji said that the 184 students were being placed at the Near East University Cyprus, while 10 are to go to Integral University, India.
The students were studying in the Republic of Sudan under the state government’s sponsorship before the outbreak of civil war in that country.
After being evacuated from Sudan, the state government again secured admission and placed 184 of the students in a Cyprus university, and the remaining 10 in India.
The executive secretary said that out of the 194, 110 are female students, while 74 are male students.
Magaji added that out of the 194 sponsored students, 192 are to study medicine, one will study Artificial Intelligence, while one is to study Pharmacy.
The executive secretary said that the state government spent N2.3 billion on tuition fees, accommodation, living allowance, VAT Resident Permit and other allowances for the students going to Near East University Cyprus.
He explained that N102.1 million was also spent on tuition fees, foreign sports school services, Resident Permit and other allowances for those going to Integral University in India.
He, however, said that the state government had made it mandatory for each of them to sign a bond to come back after studies and serve the state for between two and five years, depending on the agreement.
“At the end of their studies after the NYSC they will come and serve the state for five years. If it is a two years programme, they will come and serve the state for two years so that the state will benefit from the skills ythey have acquired,” the executive secretary said.
He said that the students were appropriately being placed according to their levels of studies, adding that some are going to level two or three as such each student has been placed where he or she supposed to be.
Magaji, who also spoke about the scholarship programme at the local level, said that the state government had approved N774 million meant for the payment of scholarship for 26,834 students at various institutions across the country.
Meanwhile, some of the students who spoke before their departure, expressed gratitude to the government and people of Jigawa for giving them the opportunity once again to complete their studies.
Umar Dauda, a level 300 student heading to Northern Cyprus, said “words are not enough to express my feelings about the government’s gesture.”
Dauda said that the Jigawa indigenes were not the only state government sponsored medical students evacuated from Sudan, but fortunately enough, the state was the only state in the North that rearranged and secured admission and placements for their sponsored students outside the country again.
Other students, Ibrahim Lawal, Fatima Umar and Badiyanatu Maigatari, all moving to 300 levels, expressed happiness for having the opportunity to return to class after their unpleasant experience in Sudan.
NAN
