By Usman Usman Garba
Kano State Governor, Alhaji Abba Kabir Yusuf, has fully settled the outstanding tuition and accommodation fees of 84 Kano students stranded in Northern Cyprus, ending years of hardship, uncertainty, and international embarrassment.
This was disclosed in a statement issued by the governor’s spokesperson, Sanusi Bature Dawakin Tofa, on Thursday.
The affected students were originally sponsored under a foreign scholarship scheme introduced by former Governor Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso. However, their studies were disrupted after the administration of Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje discontinued the programme, leaving them without financial support.
The decision subjected the students to severe emotional and financial distress. Many faced legal threats from their host institution—Near East University in Cyprus—while others were locked out of classrooms, evicted from accommodations, and forced to survive under humiliating conditions.
The students’ ordeal attracted criticism from human rights organizations and diaspora communities who condemned the politicization of education and abandonment of young citizens abroad.
The statement confirmed that all debts owed to Near East University have now been cleared. “A total of two billion, two hundred and forty million naira (₦2,240,000,000) has been paid to secure the certificates of students who have waited for over five years,” it stated.
With this intervention, the affected students—including 28 medical doctors and several graduates in nursing, dentistry, pharmacy, computer, and biomedical sciences—can now receive their certificates and pursue their careers.
In afurther demonstration of commitment, Governor Yusuf has directed that the students be offered automatic employment into the Kano State civil service.