Borno sponsors 30 ladies to study medicine abroad

From Mustapha Isah Kwaru, Maiduguri

Borno state government yesterday offered scholarships for 30 female students for a five- year

degree programme on medicine at the El-Razi Medical College in Khartoum, Sudan.

Governor Kashim Shettima disclosed this while hosting the selected students at the Government House in Maiduguri, $1,140,000 was budgeted for the programme.

Shettima said government will provide comprehensive sponsorship for all the students, including the cost of procuring visa, air ticket, tuition study allowance, up keep allowance among others.

Shettima said the gesture was aimed at tackling the problem of shortage of female doctors in the state.

“When we came to office in 2011, we met only 38 doctors in government employment all over the state, so we raised the figure to 108 doctors.

But the number was still inadequate for need of the state,” he said.

According to him, government decided to sponsor the students to provide a lasting solutions to the problem, adding that the students were selected from all the 27 local government areas of the state for even spread.

“We are planning for the future because Borno will overcome its current security challenges soon. We believe that Borno will emerge stronger from its current challenges,” Shettima said and urged the students to face their studies seriously and exhibit high moral behavior for the duration of the problem.