Abimbola Akosile
The Nigerian Turkish Nile University has expressed readiness to offer admission with 50 per cent discount tuition fees to any Nigerian student affected by the crisis in Turkey.
The Director of Nigerian Turkish International Colleges Foundation, Behlul Fatih-Basaran, said this when a delegation from the university visited the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Diaspora and Foreign Affairs, Hon. Abike Dabiri-Erewa, in Abuja recently.
Fatih-Basaran, who said the NTIC was ready to help any student who was ready to study at the university, noted that NTNU had already absorbed 29 students that returned from Turkey.
Some Nigerian students at various universities in Turkey suffered persecutions ranging from arrest to deportation over alleged link with the country’s failed coup.
The director explained that out of 54 students on different foundations scholarship in Turkey, 29 had returned to the country and were absorbed by NTNU on full scholarship. He stressed that the remaining 25 would also enjoy scholarship with a monthly token.
Fatih-Basaran said: “The 25 students offered scholarship in Turkey will still enjoy their full scholarship by the NTIC Foundation, this is separate. Other than that, there are other Nigerian students who are going through hardships because of the development in Turkey.
“Some of them have been moved to other universities where they face various hardships ranging from faculty difficulties and language barrier, among others.
“The students were simply forced to go back to their country; some of them were even deported and now the Nile University under the umbrella of NTIC Foundation decided to help these students. If they decide to accept to study at NTNU, they will have 50 per cent of their tuition fee cut.”
Fatih-Basaran was accompanied by NTNU’s Vice Chancellor, Prof. Huseyin Sert, and Dr. Yaqub Alhassan, a parent to one of the Nigerian students in Turkey.
Dabiri-Erewa in her remarks commended the Foundation for the gesture and pledged to monitor the offer in conjunction with the Ministry of Education.
The senior special assistant said the present administration had good policies for Nigerians both in the Diaspora and at home, especially on education. She, therefore, appealed to parents to be wary of sending their children to volatile countries to study.
