Officials from Nigeria’s Delta State are satisfied with the progress being made by Barbadian authorities in accommodating 90 of its students here.
Since arriving late last month under the Delta State Empowerment Programme, the Nigerians have complained in the Press about unsatisfactory living arrangements.
But Deputy Governor of the Delta State, Professor Amos Agbe Utuama who was on the island on a three-day fact finding mission told the media things do not appear as bad as was being reported in the Press.
“There has been very vicious Press reporting about the entire programme . . . It has been described as a programme designed to facilitate corruption and other inappropriate relations. We felt very bad about this and it was against this background the Government decided that I should come to see what was really happening,” he said at a media conference at Island Inn this afternoon.
The students who will soon begin nine-month courses at the Barbados Community College have been up in arms over their accommodations at Casa Grande, Oldbury, St Philip since arriving in the country last December.
Deputy Governor of the Delta State, Professor Amos Agbe Utuama (right) and consultant facilitator on the project, Donna St Hill at today’s media conference.
Professor Utuama said despite the challenges, he was pleased measures were being put in place to address the students’ concerns and make their stay more comfortable.
“In my interactions with the students I have asked them to be patient and it was all agreed that they would be relocated to more suitable accommodations and they agreed with this, so it is just a matter of time and I believe that that will happen,” he said.
“We moved around yesterday to look at some of the accommodations that [consultant facilitator Donna St Hill] is intending to take the students and I am satisfied that she has genuine intentions to move them from Casa Grande . . . . So in all I believe we are on course,” he added.