Still On What Al-Makura Did Not Tell Us; By Ibrahim Kabiru Dallah

As a former Student leader, on Friday, I joined voice to that of the Nigerian Students in the effort to make sense out of the illegal deduction of N1, 000 (One Thousand) Naira from the on-going payment of the bursary by the Nasarawa State Government.

24hrs after the Nasarawa State Government read one of my recent article with the titled 'Nasarawa Bursary: What Al-Makura Did Not Tell Us', rejecting the unnecessary deducions of over N18M (Eighteen Million) Naira from the harmless Nigerian Students in Nasarawa State bursary, they rushed to the Media and official Facebook page of the Nasarawa State Scholarship Board and made a U-turn.

Here is the official statement by the boss and spokesman of the NSSB:

'The attention of the NSSB has been drawn to the failure of some ATM Machines to dispense the exact bursary to the beneficiaries of the Nasarawa State Government gesture of scholarship. In the case of the Beneficiaries of N10, 000.00 ATMs dispense N9, 000.00.

NSSB wishes to assure the beneficiaries that our partnerthe Skye Bank PLchas assured us that by Monday students can withdraw the exact bursary they are entitled to from N100,000.00 to N10,000.00.

We sincerely apologize for our dereliction in this regard', Sulaiman A. Sulaiman, The Executive Secretary, Nasarawa State Scholarship Board, 6th July, 2014.

Initially when I raised the alarm of the illegal deduction, some of the government apologists placed calls to me that 'Dallah, you have started blackmailing our governor and his cabinet again', one of my problems is that, it is not in my usual character to keep quiet while things are moving in the wrong direction, the above statement has clearly vindicated me that I acted in the right direction.

Fortunately, after the announcement from the state government U-turn- Blackberry Messages, phone calls, SMS, and Facebook chats, mostly from Nasarawa State Students, thanking me for always standing tall amidst of the oppressors to protect their interest, immediately one salient question came to my mind that, so what I am doing now is helping others? Yes, it is part of my little contribution in protecting the interest our constituency (Students and Youths).

For now, what I have to say is that the Nigerian Students in Nasarawa State should never mind government U-turns, the State Scholarship are afraid to face the wrath of law as we have decided initially to sue the government in the court of competent jurisdiction if their decision is not reversed within the shortest period of time.

It seems the recent election in Ekiti State has taught some of our leaders in Nigeria to be extremely careful with the decisions that are clearly ant-people, if not how would one described the situation where the NSSB connived with the Sky Bank to defraud 18,762 Nigerian Students but they finally reversed their decision.

This major U-turn by the Government has been widely welcomed but Students were disgracefully treated, and it is our earnest prayers that the government should as a matter of the State interest and national important to reconsider the pending issues of the post-graduate students that paid for the scholarship form, they were also interviewed but discarded from the list of those that are qualified for the payment of the bursary.

History will not be fair to me, if I forget to draw the attention of the government to the 80% Slash in the Bursary of our dear law Students in Nigerian law School, as a person, I see this acts as another way of depriving an ordinary citizens of Nasarawa State whom their family could not afford to pay their school fees among them an opportunity NOT to be called to BAR, as such, I join my voice to that of the law students to reject the 80% Slash in totality.

It is laughable and outrageous to watch the Governor whom his daughter benefited N500, 000 (Five Hundred) Naira from the previous government has stoop so low in slashing the bursary to N100, 000 (Hundred Thousand), please forgive me for exposing him? Thanks.

It is already most disappointing that after more than 3 years; the government has not fulfilled its promise to bring the necessary changes to put into reality.

Some of the problem that the government of the day is facing in Nasarawa State today is from the bad advisers, in 2012, I had questioned the ineffectiveness of the Cabinet directive which was only an advisory nature. It has no legal effect. Nobody has bothered to adhere to it. Otherwise the Gov Al-Makura would not be going through so much agony, emotional pain and stress thinking about 2015 election.

Without sounding so hypocritical or immodest, I am a critic to the core but on this singular acts that the governor has decided to make a U-turn on the decision, Al-Makura has really won my heart.

This Too Shall Pass, Nothing More, Nothing Less.
[Ibrahim Kabiru Dallah, Is The National President Nasarawa State Youths Network (NASTYNET), Writes from Lafia, @ik_dallah On Twitter]