No fewer than 2,000 students from the Niger Delta on the Amnesty Programme have expressed frustration and alerted Nigerians and the international community of alleged disillusion which the Amnesty office has thrown them into, over delay in paying their tuition fees, in-training allowances, accommodation fees and other stipends.
Speaking with newsmen in Yenagoa, the students currently studying in United Kingdom alleged that since the appointment of the new substantive Coordinator for the Amnesty Office, their conditions had worsened.
The students, who expressed their grievances through their coordinators in Swansea University, United Kingdom, Mr Elliot Yibakeni, and Emomotimi Ziprebo of Birmingham City University, United Kingdom, noted that the Federal Government’s indifference had left them frustrated and disillusioned.
They said, “We are protesting on behalf of the over 2,000 abandoned and dejected Nigerian students of Niger Delta extraction studying in the United Kingdom and other parts of the world under the Presidential Amnesty Programme.
“We are now a bout of joke around the world especially in the United Kingdom and have practically turned refugees and laughing stock in our respective cities where the institutions are. We have just received the news of the death of one of our fellow students in the University of Belarus due to the present hardship faced by the students.”
The students claimed that some students on the amnesty programme in Malaysia had been arrested and were daily subjected to inhuman treatment because they could not meet their obligations.
They wondered why the Amnesty office had failed to implement President Muhammadu Buhari’s directive that the students should be paid their allowances urgently.
They added, “As of the moment, schools in United Kingdom and other parts of the world have started resuming for fresh academic session. Unfortunately, Niger Delta students may not be able to join their colleagues in their various institutions of higher learning because of the delay in meeting their financial obligations.
“Worse still, students that did foundation programmes in the United Kingdom and were successful are currently denied visas by the United Kingdom embassy because of the yet to be resolved challenges experienced by the students.”
The students appealed to President Buhari and other well-meaning individuals to save them from imminent collapse.
However, they called on the President to match words with action to ensure the release of funds for the beneficiaries of the programme.
To this end, they resolved that should nothing concrete happened, they would not resist the the temptation to direct the various chapters across the world to embark on a massive demonstration in the capitals and state houses where Nigerian leaders reside.
