A student from Nigeria, Adedeji Sunday Akintayo, has been protesting in front of Polonia University in the Polish town of Częstochowa.
He demands that the University refund him 6,650 euro – a tuition fee he paid for a Master’s programme that he has never started.
Adedeji set up a tent near the premises of the Polonia University on Wednesday, January 29.
The residents of the town supported the student by giving him hot drinks and even some money. His friends got a portable radiator for him to keep warm in the cold weather.
But the University keeps saying that there’s no ground for them to pay the money back.
“Adedeji Sunday Akintayo is a student of the Polonia University since July 2013. He signed a contract with the University, payed tuition fee for two years study – as the Polish law requires foreigners to do if they want to study here,” said the University representative, Jerzy Nitkiewicz. “For reasons unknown to us, the student did not commence the studies,” he added.
On Friday, Charles, a student from Ghana with similar problems with Polonia University, joined the Nigerian. When the two entered the building of the university, someone called the police. However, the officers did not apply any sanctions to the men.
What makes the issue especially urgent for Adedeji is that he has been accepted to a university in neighbouring Lithuania. But he says he has no money neither for studies nor for food or shelter there.
This is why the Nigerian is very determined to get the repayment.
On a Facebook page that he started to provide a coverage of his protest, Adedeji said he was going to the capital city, Warsaw, on Monday, where he wants to meet with the Nigerian ambassador as well as visit the Ministry of Science and Higher Education.
Dziennik Zachodni reports that John Godson, a member of the Polish parliament from Nigeria, has sent a letter to the President of the Polonia University in which he asked him to resolve the issue through conciliation. Should the reply be negative, Godson said he would refer the issue to the Attorney General as he thinks that the University might have defrauded Adedeji.