A lawyer, Chief Adekunle Funmilayo, has threatened to sue the University of Lagos, UNILAG, if it does not halt a plan to send some students to Russia for one year.
He also urged President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to intervene.
The lawyer said the university insists on sending 17 second-year Russian language students to the country as a requirement to move to 300-level.
He said the students were admitted in 2021/2022, for a bachelor’s degree in Russian language but are being asked to travel to Russia to spend a year compulsorily.
“The ongoing war in Russia is a source of trepidation and concern to the students and their parents and sponsors. It is not advisable to travel to Russia in its current state of war with its Ukraine neighbours,” Funmilayo wrote.
The lawyer claimed the students were asked to either travel to Russia for the programme or drop out or be withdrawn.
Funmilayo said the university neither took into consideration the cost of travelling to Russia amid economic hardship, nor the psychological impact of threatening the undergraduates with expulsion if they cannot afford to travel.
In a petition to the President, he said: “The harsh economic situation and unstable foreign exchange were not taken into account in insisting that the students must go to Russia.
“The anticipated cost may rise to N20 million or more. Why must the university subject these innocent and poor Nigerians to such hardship to get a degree in the Russian Language?
“The students were not told from inception that going to Russia for a year would be mandatory.”
The lawyer said even if a trip to Russia for a year was a requirement, it could not be “cast in stone” due to the war with Ukraine and the economic situation.
The lawyer wrote: “We, therefore, appeal to you to prevail on UNILAG authorities to reconsider this matter to either allow the students to switch to other courses or let the third-year students be done without going to Russia.
“They are Nigerians and are entitled to be treated with some dignity in their quest for higher education.”
The lawyer copied the National Assembly, the National Universities Commission, NUC, the UNILAG Vice Chancellor, the Dean of the Faculty of Arts; the Dean of Student Affairs and the HOD of European Languages and Integration Studies.
Funmilayo, in the petition to UNILAG, threatened to sue if it did not address the issue within a week.
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