Barbados’ thrusts to become an educational offshore location has been dealt an adverse blow by the shameful developments involving the 90 Nigerian students who came here to study at the Barbados Community College (BCC) for nine months.
This group represents the single largest number of students so far to come here to further their education, and the way their dissatisfaction over the accommodation provided for them has been handled is utterly disgraceful, and reflects negatively on this country.
We can and must do better than this.
Though we are not in possession of all of the facts concerning the housing arrangements for these Nigerians, what is indisputable is that they were told they would be staying at a hotel on the South Coast close to the BCC’s hospitality campus at Pommarine in Hastings where many of them will be pursuing hospitality studies. However, on arriving here they were taken to the Casa Grande Hotel in St Philip instead.
These students’ dashed expectations were magnified by the conditions at the hotel where they reportedly had to fetch water from the swimming pool on a number of days to bathe, because of low water pressure in the area.
To add insult to their already injured feelings, the students said they felt disrespected in the manner they were spoken to when they sought clarification on the situation. To cap it all, the police were called in when they met with the media to air their grievances, and accompanying the cops were two soldiers armed with automatic rifles.
Any Barbadian who travelled thousands of miles from their comfortable home to be confronted with similar circumstances as these Nigerians faced, would more than likely have been similarly irate.
We welcome the intervention of the Government in this matter as Barbados’ reputation is being dragged through the mud. Though we understand this initiative had nothing to do with the Freundel Stuart administration, we still believe it should have intervened earlier to calm the situation and bring some semblance of organisation to the chaos.
With attitudes now hardened and positions more entrenched, it would be more difficult for mediation. Be that as it may, it is our hope that with Government’s involvement enough can be done to convince these students that whatever slip-ups occurred will be rectified and this negative episode is not reflective of the way Barbadians treat their guests.
It is critical that Barbados’ reputation as an offshore education location comes out of this still intact because of the potential foreign exchange earnings from this business. Nigerians travel in droves to the United Kingdom and the United States annually to study, much of this funded by their state governments. Success from this initiative could lead to more of this business.
We are certain many Nigerians would welcome the opportunity to come to the Caribbean to study where they can mingle with people with whom they have historical links.
Already, the University of the West Indies Cave Hill Campus has shown the tremendous potential for this business by consistently earning foreign currency from teaching South Americans to speak English.
Hopefully, this matter will be resolved amicably.
