11th July, 2023
By Habibu Harisu
The Sokoto State Government announced that it has begun paying three years’ worth of tuition fees for students at Usmanu Danfodiyo University Sokoto (UDUS).
The government and the institution had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to reimburse the tuition fees of accepted state-residence students.
However, because the Sokoto state government had delayed the cash for three years, UDUS was forced to restrict the affected students from taking exams.
According to Alhaji Nasiru Dantsoho, chairman of the screening committee, the verification is complete, and settlement of the outstanding bills has begun.
He stated that the intervention was prompted by claims that UDUS had threatened to expel the students unless the fees were paid in full.
Dantsoho stated that the money for those screened will be paid to the institution so that students could sit for semester exams and subsequent academic sessions without disturbance.
The committee chairman remembered that when Gov. Ahmad Aliyu took office, he expressed concern over the situation, which had pushed the university to consider rejecting students from the state.
He stated that the previous administration of Aminu Tambuwal left huge debts for the incoming government, particularly in the area of scholarships for students both within and outside Nigeria.
“The situation in which our students were rejected warrants us to embark on the screening to make sure only Sokoto Students benefit from the payment,” he said.
The chairman stated that the panel has screened all pupils at UDUS from the state’s 23 local government units.
He further stated that similar exercises will be conducted in other universities as needed.
Some of the youngsters expressed relief and thanked the state government for intervening, according to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).
They noted that it was a great boost for them to be able to focus on their schoolwork again.
NAN