The Secretary of the scholarship committee in Abaji Area Council, Yusuf Saleh, has said that only 27 students and not 62 as claimed by the Abaji students' union are yet to receive their scholarship payments from the council for batches B and C.

But the outgoing Secretary-General of the union, Abdullahi A. Mohammed, had said that 62 students of both batches B and C are yet to receive their scholarship.

Mohammed, who spoke at the inauguration of the newly elected executives of the union, alleged that only 191students received their scholarships in the first batch while the committee has refused to pay the remaining 62 students. According to him, since the council authorities flagged-off the payment of the scholarship in January 7, some students are yet to receive theirs, despite the council's promise to settle the backlog by the end of January.

"The union executives contacted the scholarship committee's secretary to confirm the position of payment for the remaining students in batches B and C, but he told us that the council authorities complained of insufficient funds and we are afraid that the remaining students might not be paid before the end of the present administration's tenure in about two months," he said.

He called on the scholarship committee to pay the remaining 62 students or it will be compelled to return N500 the affected students paid for the purchase of the scholarship forms.

However, the secretary of the scholarship committee, Yusuf Saleh, insisted that only 27 students are yet to be settled and that the committee is waiting for the union's leaders to come for it.

When contacted, press secretary to the chairman of the council, Salihu Umar Kombo, said the non-completion of the payment was due to some financial challenges in the council last month and assured that the remaining students in the batches B and C would be settled any moment from now.