Final Year Nigerian Faces Deportation from Russia as State Fails to Pay Fees

A Nigerian final year medical student at Irkutsk State Medical University (ISMU), Usman Yahaya, is set to be deported from Russia to Nigeria over the failure of his sponsor to pay his school fees.

According to reports, Yahaya, a Sokoto State-born medical student has been in detention in Russia, for over a month.

He was first suspended by the medical university when the Sokoto government could not pay his overdue scholarship.

Yahaya is a recipient of the Best African Medical Student award at the Russian Centre for Scientific Research.

Yahaya was thereafter detained at a Russian immigration camp at Angarsk Irkutsk, by authorities of the European nation’s Immigration because Sokoto Scholarship Board failed to pay his school fees.

The head of Transparency International in Nigeria, an anti-corruption body, Auwal Musa Rafsanjani has called for the probe of the officers behind Yahaya’s ongoing ordeal in Sokoto.

Rafsanjani, who is also the Executive Director of the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC), appealed to Governor Tambuwal to intervene in the plight of the student.

He urged anti-corruption agencies to probe the allegation of bribery and corrupt practices at the Sokoto Scholarship Board.

“This is very unfortunate that the bright final year medical student in the finest medical university in Russia and from Sokoto is facing this painful dilemma when we are aware how our elites value the education of their children in the most expensive schools abroad,” Rafsanjani said.

“While we appeal to Governor Tambuwal of Sokoto, a state that has a shortage of qualified medical practitioners to intervene in the plight of poor students, we call on the EFCC and ICPC to investigate the corrupt practices at Sokoto Scholarship Board.

Yahaya has appeared twice at a Russian state court. If eventually convicted, he may be expelled from ISMU, detained, or even banned from entering Russia, in the nearest future.

President of the Association of Nigerian Students in Europe (ANSE), Bashiru Muhammad has also called on Governor Aminu Waziri Tambuwal to intervene in Yahaya’s plight.

Muhammad, a student at Coventry University, expressed worry that Governor Tambuwal’s unwavering support and kind gesture for Sokoto students abroad will be undermined if proactive steps are not taken to quickly rescue Yahaya.

The ANSE president has been liaising with officials of the Russian university and the Sokoto government towards resolving the issue.