About 1000 Bauchi students studying abroad on the state-funded scholarship programme are now stranded due to the inability of the government to meet its financial obligation to them.

This was disclosed by Prince Mohammed Sani Hassan, President, National Association of Polytechnic Students (NAPS), on Sunday while addressing journalists at the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) secretariat, Bauchi.

He said out of the thirty-six states of the federation, only ten states are up to date in the payment of scholarship.

According to him, “For the past three years, Bauchi State government has been unable to pay scholarship to students studying in Nigeria or abroad.

“As a result, one hundred students have returned home from abroad without completing their studies, while some of them are roaming the streets without transport fare to return home.”

Most of the affected students, Prince Hassan said, were those schooling in Egypt, Cyprus, Russia, Vietnam, and England.

He stated that Bauchi State governor, Mohammed Abubakar, had failed students from the state, having failed to sustain their scholarship.

Prince Hassan added: “The government has begun the sale of scratch cards for scholarship, but let me tell you, out of the thirty thousand students of Bauchi State, less than ten thousand bought the scratch card, because we have lost confidence in him.

“We think the government is just playing politics with us. After three years without scholarship, now that the election is approaching, he wants to lure students with scholarship to vote him in the coming general election.

“The government should stop playing politics with students’ welfare and our studies.”

He explained that the scholarship was not much but that the students needed it early enough to be able to defray the cost of academic programmes and activities on time.

•Sourced from a Daily Independent report