The Sokoto State Government said it has commenced payment of three years arrears of tuition fee for its students studying at the Usmanu Danfodiyo University Sokoto (UDUS).
The government had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the University to pay the tuition fees of students from the state admitted in the institution.
However, the Sokoto state government had failed to remit the money for three years, a situation which made UDUS to bar the affected students from sitting for examinations.
Alhaji Nasiru Dantsoho, Chairman of the Screening Committee, said on Monday that the verification had been completed and the remittance of the outstanding fees has commenced.
He said that the intervention followed reports that UDUS had threatened to send the students home unless the fees were paid in full.
Dantsoho said that the money for those screened would be paid to the university to enable the students sit for the semester examinations and subsequent academic sessions without distraction.
The committee chairman recalled that Gov. Ahmad Aliyu, had on assumption of office expressed concern over the situation, which had forced the institution to contemplate rejecting students from the state.
He said that the former administration of Aminu Tambuwal left huge debts for the new government, especially in the area of scholarship for students 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 said that the panel had screened all students from the 23 local government areas of the state studying in UDUS.
He added that similar exercise will be undertaken in other institutions if the need arises.
Some of the students told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that they felt relieved, and expressed appreciation to the state government for the intervention.
They added that it was a huge encouragement for them to now face their studies without distraction. (NAN)
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