The Nigerian students from Rivers state who benefited from the scholarship programme of the state government are set to be deported after accumulated government debts.
Some of the students protesting
More than 200 Nigerian students schooling in Canada are on the brink of deportation as a result of the failure of the River states government to fund their scholarships.
Osho Samuel, a graduate student of Mechanical Engineering in the University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, confirmed the development to TheCable, saying the students have lost all hope.
“This is a national disgrace, considering the fact that these students are here to learn, they’ve lost all hope and I believe strongly that the government can respond and pay their bills,” he said.
“This is a critical situation for the students, they are actually preparing for their exams, they should be writing their exams in the next two weeks.
“And all what they get to think about is the fact that they’ve not been able to pay their fees, the fact that they are on the brink of being deported from Canada not for committing any crime but just coming to study.”
He further revealed that about 50 of the students involved are schooling in Manitoba, while the rest are spread across the country.
According to the students, the RSSDA is owing N500 million ($2.5 million) to universities in Canada, with the majority owed to the University of Manitoba, the University of Regina and Simon Fraser University.
Godwin Poi, acting executive director of the RSSDA, has blamed the development on the fall in the price of oil, saying efforts were in place to address the situation.