Nigerian govt intervenes in Teeside varsity students asked to leave

Nigeria’s federal government has stepped in after crisis-hit international students were ordered to leave the UK.

Nigerian students at Teesside University were thrown off courses and reported to the Home Office after a currency crisis left them struggling to pay fees on time, according to the BBC.

A delegation led by a Nigerian ambassador will now meet with university management “to intervene on allegations of unfair and unjust deportation orders”, a spokesman for the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM) said.

The Middlesbrough-based university said it is supporting students and is open to the meeting.

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The intervention comes after master’s degree students were blocked from studies and reported to the Home Office by the university.

They had struggled to pay tuition fees on time after the value of Nigeria’s naira plummeted amid an economic crisis, wiping out savings and substantially altering budgets.

Earlier this month, a university spokesman told the BBC failure to pay was a breach of visa sponsorship and that it had “no choice” but to alert the Home Office, which said sponsorship decisions rested with the institution.