Amnesty scholarship students lament fate at Turkey varsity

Former Niger Delta militants, studying at the European University of Lefke, Turkey have protested against their outright abandonment and non-payment of their school fees by the Presidential Amnesty Programme of the Ministry of the Niger Delta.

The students, under the aegis of Presidential Amnesty Scholarship students wrote a Save-Our-Soul letter to The Guardian, urging President Muhammadu Buhari, to intervene on the issue.

According to the students, they wrote the SOS “With deep sorrow and frustration, and as a matter of urgency to beckon on the authorities in Nigeria to save the lives of students in their various fields of study in the European University of Lefke, Turkish Republic of North Cyprus, under the presidential Amnesty Programme on Education.

“We have decided to make this last minute outcry after exhausting all available internal dispute resolution at the Amnesty office. So far, we have officially written and addressed four letters to the Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta/Coordinator, Presidential Amnesty Programme, Brigadier-General Paul Boroh and six to various desks and designated call centers, but no single one of such letters was ever acknowledged.”

The students said they threatened to take the matter to the National Assembly, the media and even seek legal action against the Amnesty office for abandoning us, yet there has not been any amicable resolution on the matter. Not even a phone call to that effect.

Series of letters have been written to government by the school management to demand payments of school fees.

They added that in one of such letters sent by the management of the European University to government and made available to The Guardian, the school had demanded $212,400USD, being total amount for the students’ school fees in 2014.

The letter signed by Associate Professor Carolina Smochina and addressed to the office of the Special Adviser to the president on Amnesty Programme read, “As we have already commenced the new academic year 2014/2015, I would like to remind you of the outstanding fees to be paid for the students on scholarship programme.