From Desmond Mgboh, Kano
Kano State government has spent N4.3 billion in the past two years on overseas scholarship, Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje has said.
Ganduje spoke during the presentation of scholarships to nine indigenes of the state billed to study at Al-Azhar University, Cairo, Egypt, and 10 Imams for a two-month capacity building programme by the Egyptian government.
Gannduje said that the amount was enough to build a new university or to complete several projects in the state-owned Maitama Sule University, adding that overseas scholarship under the present economic condition in the country was very expensive.
To underscore the fact that maintaining the foreign scholarship scheme was costly, Ganduje asserted that what the state government was spending on each of the students on foreign scholarship could be used to finance the education of at least 30 students attending tertiary institutions in Nigeria.
He noted also that, despite this effort to sustain the foreign scholarship scheme, some of the students were taking the scheme for granted, such that while some stayed away from lectures, others engage in acts of lawlessness.
“For instance, some of our students in one country do not attend lectures. Their scores were very low. It was recommended by their university that we should pay for their studies for an additional year. However, there was doubt that they would be able to pass at the end of the additional year. So we decided to bring them back home after consultation with their parents,” he said.