After being evacuated from the Republic of Sudan, no fewer than 194 state-sponsored medical students left Jigawa on Friday to finish their studies in Northern Cyprus and India.
The Jigawa State Scholarship Board’s executive secretary, Saidu Magaji, told the News Agency of Nigeria in Dutse that all preparations had been made for their flight to those countries.
According to Mr. Magaji, 184 of the students will be attending Near East University in Cyprus, while 10 will be attending Integral University in 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.
Following their evacuation from Sudan, the state government managed to secure admission, placing 184 students to a university in Cyprus and the remaining 10 to an university in India.
110 of the 184 students are female, and 74 are male, according to the executive secretary.
Out of the 194 funded students, Mr. Magaji stated that 192 will study medicine, one will study artificial intelligence, and one will study pharmacy.
According to the executive secretary, the state government spent N2.3 billion for the living expenses, tuition, VAT resident permit, housing, and other benefits that students attending Near East University Cyprus received.
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 they 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.
Mr 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 to NAN 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.”
Mr 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.