Presidency Cancels Scholarship of 6 Niger-Delta Students in Russia Over Embassy Attack

Special Adviser to the President on Niger-Delta Kingsley Kuku

Alarmed by the attack on Nigerian Embassy in Moscow by some Niger-Delta students on government scholarship, the Federal Government says it has withdrawn the scholarship of six students who participated in the violence.

African Examiner gathered that the students are Niger-Delta students sponsored by the amnesty office in the presidency to attend Peoples Friendship University in Moscow, Russia.

BBC had reported that the 16 students on September 30^th stormed the Nigerian Embassy to protest their unpaid allowance. The protesting students smashed the embassy furniture and threatened to beat up embassy staffs. Russian police later whisked them away.

Perturbed by the attack and the negative effect on Nigeria’s image, the Office of the Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta announced on Tuesday the withdrawal of the scholarship of the protesting students even as it denied that government owed them 6 months allowance.

In a statement issued in Abuja, the Special Adviser to the President on Niger-Delta Kuku, stressed that the government only owes the September allowance in which he stated that the central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has commenced the process of paying the students.

His words: “For going on rampage and violently attacking the Nigerian Mission, these students breached the Code of Conduct for delegates on scholarship that they all signed before their departure from Nigeria. It is also a gross misconduct, which the Nigerian government cannot tolerate. Students on its sponsorship cannot go on rampage on flimsy excuses in a foreign country and damage the image and reputation of Nigeria.

“Our records show that the students were not being owed their In-Training Allowance, ITA, for six months as they alleged.”

“In fact, the only unremitted allowance was for the month of September 2013, which had been approved and was being processed by the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, at the time they attacked the Mission.

“My office had communicated the students on Friday, September 27, 2013 about the processing of their ITA for the months of September and October 2013 and the need for them to be patient while it was being handled by the CBN.

“We were therefore shocked when information got to us that the delegates had invaded the embassy, destroyed property and attacked the Mission officials over unpaid allowances. This is absolutely unacceptable.”