Once Bitten, Twice …? Sokoto Sends 420 Students Abroad… 200 To Sudan, Where Nyanya Bomber Ogwuche Studied

No fewer than four hundred and twenty (420) students will benefit from the N800 million earmarked by theSokoto state government for undergraduate and post-graduate scholarships.

According to a Vanguard report, the Chairman of the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), Prof.Musa Maitafsir made the announcement while addressing 121 Masters Degrees students leaving the the country to study at the Islamic University of Uganda.

Maitafsir said the N800 million will cover the tuition, registration as well as upkeep of the beneficiaries.

Sokoto will spend a total of N350 million for 220 students at the Islamic University of Uganda.

The 121 students leaving Sokoto for Uganda today will join the 99 already there for various Masters Degrees courses in the same Institution, he was quoted as saying

Ninety-nine (99) students had already concluded their post-graduate Diploma in Education course at the Ugandan institution.

Sudan… A Sour Taste?

Giving a breakdown of the beneficiaries, Maitafsir revealed that 200 other students will study at various Universities in Sudan, India, Bangladesh and the United Arab Emirates (Dubai).

Of these 200 students, 160 will be studying at an undisclosed institution in Sudan.

Out of them, 160 are going to Sudan; 100 going to India, 40 will be going to Bangladesh and 60 to Dubai, UAE, Maitafsir said

Interestingly, Aminu Sadiq Ogwuche, the infamous ‘Nyanya Bomber’, mastermind of the deadly Nyanya twin bomb blast that killed nearly 100 Nigerians, was a student of Arabic Language at the International University of Africa, Sudan.

Ogwuche fled back to Sudan after committing his crime and it was difficult getting the Sudanese government to repatriate him, until the International Police Organization (INTERPOL) handed over on the 16th of July, 2014.

Should Nigeria be so quick to spend N450 million to educate students in the same country, at the risk of exposing them to radicals.