Nigerians seeking for greener pasture overseas have been advised not to underestimate any information needed to actualize their dreams from a genuine traveling agency.
Speaking at a traveling fair held at the Jagz Hotel, Iyaganku Ibadan, Oyo State Capital over the weekend, Mr Tunde Salami, a United Kingdom (UK) based immigration lawyer, who also doubles as the Country Director of TCL Global, a leading traveling agency in the country expressed displeasure over the level of depression some Nigerians are currently going through in the United Kingdom.
According to Tunde Salami, many Nigerians in the last three years have become victims of depression in the United Kingdom because of lack of adequate information which can guide them right before they depart from Nigeria.
While speaking with newsmen at the “Study Abroad Expo” a fair organized by the TCL Global for Intending international student, Tunde Salami said, “it is so sad that in the last three years, the era of “Japa” has turned many Nigerians into depression in the UK.
“Many Nigerians sold their properties, such as cars, houses, landed property just to secure Certificate of Sponsorship to work as caregivers in the United Kingdom, this is what is known as (CEOS) whereas this certificate is free, if they have the right information but they ended up selling their properties and paid as much as N40m to travel there but upon getting to the United Kingdom they are faced with the reality of life, which has resulted in depression for most of them”
Speaking on the importance of the fair, Tunde said, “TCL Global organized the event to educate and enlighten Nigerians that are interested to study abroad.
He said, “This is not the first time we are organizing this kind of fair, we are here today to enlighten Nigerians for them to know that there are still educational opportunities for them to live and work in the United Kingdom and most especially, to let them know that UK now offers very buoyant scholarship opportunities, we are also here to educate them that all these scholarship opportunities does not mean it’s totally free but there could be 30,40,50,60 even up to 70% discount on tuition fee.
“Also there are still opportunities whereby you can still bring in your spouse as your dependants while you study in the UK because we are here to let people know about many opportunities while studying in the UK.
“Our brand is unique because we have been tasted and trusted, over the last five years we’ve been able to secure admission for over one thousand students in the UK alone, and this is not included any dependant or children, just students alone and we have a lots of testimonies to share, and another important thing is that I was once an international student years back, I have two masters degrees in the UK universities, I have a Master’s degree in Business Administration and Master’s degree in law and while studying, my wife and my kids joined me over there, after that, I was able to settled and able to get my citizenship in the United Kingdom.
“The last three years have brought a lot of challenges for us, for people that stays in the UK and immigration people in the UK, the reason is that those people that came in the last three years are not well informed, they think when they get to the UK all their problems will be solved without realizing that getting into UK, another problem start, some of them sold their properties, some sold cars, houses, landed property thinking when they get there everything will be fine, especially people that travelled with all these CEOS, Care route visa.
“As a company, that time we were not involved in CEOS or Care Route Visa but I used to tell them that 85% of these carer certificates are false, because genuine sponsorship license in the UK are free, they’re not for sell, but our people won’t listen, the UK government want you to come in through a studentship visa and then you start working as a carer, and while working as carer you might have developed a skilled required and after your studies they will give you CEOS for free (Certificate of Sponsorship to work as a carer) and this is what people paid N20m, N30m some even paid 40m for, it is free, and at the end of the day people that they paid such huge money to secure such job in the UK ending up without no job, this makes people to go into a serious depression.
“There are lot of high level of depression over there, people are not feeling too well over there, especially those that travelled in the last three years because their expectations was cut short and to me what I have discovered is that people don’t want to hear the truth, they see people like us a prophets of doom when you tell them, this is the right thing to do, they will tell you no, they have people that can do this and that for them, but unfortunately when the problem comes we still have to develop lots of ways to support them, lot of people are in depression because they were not prepared for what they get when they got there, especially those people that travelled with that care work certificate stuff.
“Student route is still student route, passing through education system in the UK is not easy, so when you have a certificate in the UK, you will never remain the same in your life, so after your study if you decide to stay you will still get something meaningful to do and that’s what we’ve been doing, we’ve been truthful and very straightforward with our clients and that’s what makes us to be distinct in the market.” Tunde said.
In his advise to intending international students and to those seeking greener pasture abroad, Tunde said, “genuine CEOS is free, don’t pay for CEOS, even for those hospitals that are recruiting nurses it is free they don’t pay for it, anything you’re paying for as far as caregiver job is concern is not genuine, be prepared for it, care work Visa is meant for people that are there already, these are the people on a type of visa maybe student visa, while as a student they have been working, after working they got the experience needed as a carer or as a support worker, then these care homes and supported homes will give them the certificate for free because they have developed the skill about three to six months of experience with them over there, and one thing about the UK is that experience is the most important and that is why they’re giving the certificate free to the people that are already there.
“So what makes us different as traveling agency is that, who he feels it, knows it best, which means I have passed through this journey myself, so, I’m not just advertising, it’s the journey I have passed through so I would be able to tell you what you need to know so you can be able to achieve and fulfill your dreams of study abroad, especially in the UK.
“It’s very difficult to see people that will give you exactly what we have, people find it difficult to even know what next to do after getting the admission, how to stay in the UK, how to manage their spouse in the UK, even how to manage their children in the UK, people don’t know how to go about it all these, all what they do is setting up travelling agency and be collecting money from people but in TCL Global we know what it takes to get things done properly.
Tunde expressed his satisfaction over the level of turnout at the event, he said, the level of turnout has been very wonderful, so far we have over four hundred people coming in for this program, they’ve been coming here to ask series of questions because the terrain is changing a lot, so it has emanate people to come out and ask sort of questions, people are confused, they are like, does it still really worth it going to the UK for study?
Yes, they will ask such questions because in the last three years during the japa era, a lot of Nigerians have been misinformed, there were lot of dimensions to information which are not real to the people, I think because of that, people come out more to ask questions about studying in the UK, they want to clarification about some informations they’ve been hearing about study abroad.
“So, if somebody that is facilitating it for you, said you should go and bring 10m or 20m please don’t pay for CEOS again, don’t sell your house to go for it, it is not genuine, when it comes to education route, there is nothing free in the UK, but If you’re exceptionally talented and brilliant we can look for a Schools for you whereby you might be considered for scholarship but it’s not hundred percent free.
The fair had in attendance representatives from various UK Universities such as the University of Central Lancashire United Kingdom, Swansea University, Leeds Beckett University, University of Birmingham, among others.
Yewande Ayoade Adewale, the international Officer covering West African Region for the University of Central Lancashire, commended TCL Global for organizing such a forum where interested students can come and meet with the representatives from the institutions of their dreams.
She said, “intending international students that have been coming here have found out that there are lots of opportunities while studying in the UK, one of the things we are proud about is the level of support we give our students, the kind of courses we are running at the university are not just theoretical, our students will be exposed to both theories and practically aspects of studies.
“I also shared with them courses they can do as international students, I enlighten them on the courses we offering in our institutions, for instance our institution is the best ranked as most affordable university in the UK, we also ranked 3rd in the UK for the mental health support we give our students, also 91% of undergraduate students in our institutions do come back for their postgraduate program to further their education because of the friendly and accommodating environment they enjoyed during their undergraduate years, these and many other opportunities are there for them to explore and that’s what we’ve been educating them about.
“We have a lot of trusted partners just like TCL Global just to ensure that the students didn’t get into the wrong hands, one of the major role that I play as representative for the institution is to ensure that the students get all the needed support from application level, to getting their Visa going to the UK and even beyond that.
We are teaming up with trusted agency like TCL Global, to ensure we assist our intending students get their admission with ease or without falling into wrong hands, all these process take nothing less than two weeks in as much the students meet up with all the requirements of the institution, there is even a discount on the tuition fee for international students. Yewande said.
