On Thursday, December 8, 2022, there was outrage after beneficiaries of the federal government’s presidential Amnesty scholarship program were thrown out of their exam halls at Baze University Abuja.
According to WITHIN NIGERIA, Baze University is a private university owned by Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed, the Vice Presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP).
It was learned that the students were all set to write an exam on the course ‘Digital Entrepreneurship Gen 201’ when 185 of them were asked to leave the institution’s multipurpose hall because they would not be allowed to sit for the exam due to unpaid fees.
When a messenger came in to pass the directive, the supervising lecturer was said to have walked out the students who had been screened and allowed to write.
Students, parents, family members, and concerned public members have all expressed their dissatisfaction with the development.
According to a school source, the university authorities interrupted the ongoing exam and expelled the affected students because the government’s scheme had not yet completed payment of their semester school fees.
Some students expressed regret that the school never informed them of what was going to happen or drew the attention of their parents and guardians to the outstanding fees. The students, some of whom had been expelled from the school, were reportedly seen in various parts of Abuja on Thursday.
Some were irritated by the varsity’s decision, given that they had spent months preparing for the exam and had informed their parents in advance.
Some students complained that they were among the over 500 colleagues who had already sat in the university’s multi-purpose hall to write the exam when a lecturer ordered all Amnesty Scholarship students to leave.
One of the distraught male students who pleaded that his name should not be in the print told Vanguard Newspaper that;
On Thursday 8th December 2022, all students offering the course titled DIGITAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP (GEN 201) amounting to over 500 students in number convened at the Baze University multipurpose hall to sit for the final exams for this semester.
All pre-exam practices were duly conducted; we were searched, allocated our seat numbers and schooled on the rules by which we were to be bound for the exam duration.
We were seated and ready to start at any moment when a lecturer informed us that he would be calling out a list of names, and if your name or matriculation number is mentioned, you are to walk to the end of the hall.
Naturally, we guessed that the aim of this was to filter out the students that had not met the attendance requirements to write the exam, but this theory was struck out when we noticed a pattern; only amnesty students were being called out.
He said they were immediately escorted out of the hall and taken to the registration block. They were informed through a messenger that the school had henceforth suspended them from writing the final exams because they had not paid their school fees for the semester.
This was all the information we were given as we were left to scatter about the school. Some of us made a choice to write the exam as it was being held online.
We unsure whether it will be recorded as we did not get the opportunity to sign the mandatory physical attendance in the hall before we were escorted out, he said.
Why School Fee Was Delayed – Presidential Amnesty Programme
Meanwhile, the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP) has explained why the student’s school fees were not paid on time.
In response to Baze University’s action against the students, PAP Interim Administrator Major General Barry Ndiomu (retd) stated that the institution made no effort to notify the Amnesty Office or the students’ parents before sending them out of the examination hall.
It was discovered that Ndiomu had written to the institution prior to the new development to notify it of a delay in the payment of the outstanding fees.
The PAP Administrator explained in a letter reportedly dated November 8, 2022, and addressed to the institution’s Registrar, Dr Mani Ibrahim Ahmad, that the delay in payment of the 2022/2023 fees was due to financial commitments and budgetary constraints.
In the letter, Ndiomu promised that the outstanding fees would be paid by the end of the first quarter of 2023.
The letter to Baze University authorities read thus:
Follow breaking news, entertainment news, politics, sports, comedy,tech, browsing cheat, join this Whatsapp groupNOTIFICATION OF DELAY IN THE PAYMENT OF TUITION FEES FOR PAP-SPONSORED STUDENTS FOR THE 2022/2023 ACADEMIC SESSION
1. Have been briefed about the corporate relationship and strategic partnership between Baze University and the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP), in providing qualitative formal Education opportunities to beneficiaries.
2. If you recall, tuition fees for students deployed in February 2022 have been paid. However, due to the current financial commitments of my Office as well as budgetary constraints, I write to notify you that there will be a delay in the payment of tuition fees for the students who are in training at your University for the 2022/2023 academic session.
3. I can assure you that on or before the end of the first quarter of 2023, based on scheduled release of funds by the Federal Government, the PAP Office would have fully met its outstanding finanical responsibilities to your University.
4. Please accept the assurances of my esteemed regards.
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