The Federal Government delegation is set to intervene on the behalf of some Nigerian students of Teesside University in the United Kingdom, who have been served with deportation order.
A delegation to be led by a representative of the Nigerian Embassy in the UK, Amb. Christian Okeke and leaders of the Nigerian Students Union in UK, will visit the Management of Teesside University to intervene on the allegations of unfair and unjust deportation order served on some Nigerian students, in the middle of their studies.
The decision was taken at the end of a virtual meeting held between Hon. Abike Dabiri-Erewa, Chairman/CEO, Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM), Representative of the Nigerian High Commission UK, Amb. Christian Okeke; Mr Yemi Soile; President, Nigerian Students Union UK; and many of the affected students at the meeting on Sunday.
The affected students passionately narrated their ordeal and were optimistic of a positive intervention.
During the meeting, Chairman NIDCOM appealed to the students to remain calm and not to take laws into their hands while appealing to the University to treat the students with justice and fairness.
Ambassador Okeke spoke in the same vein.
It will be recalled that on May 22, some Nigerian students of Teesside University staged a protest following the directives by the university authorities for them to leave UK on the allegations that some of the students defaulted in paying their school fees.
However, the Teesside University students have said the devaluation of the naira has made it difficult for them to pay their tuition fees, leading to a breach of visa sponsorship requirements.
Affected students have expressed their distress and disappointment, feeling that the university is being “heartless” and not providing adequate support.
The group of 60 students, who chose to share their names with the BBC, banded together to urge the university to offer support after several of their peers faced severe consequences for defaulting on payments.
These students were abruptly locked out of their university accounts and forcibly withdrawn from their courses.