President Boakai Suspends Assistant Information Minister Matthew Nyanplu Over Social Media Criticism of NEKOTECH Scholarships

Monrovia, Liberia - Acording to the a realase from the Executive mansion office page. President Joseph Nyuma Boakai, Sr., has, with immediate effect, suspended Mr. Matthew Nyanplu from his position as Assistant Minister for Information Services at the Ministry of Information, Cultural Affairs and Tourism.

The disciplinary action against Mr. Nyanplu stemmed from his breach of intra-agency communication protocols, sidestepping of norms of best practice, and acts unbecoming of a government official, especially one in a the capacity as a spokesman. He will serve the suspension without pay and will be subjected to an investigation to determine the need for further action.

The suspension of Mr. Nyanplu arises squarely out of his brazen disregard of established channels, not the merits or demerits of the issues he highlighted.

The Liberian Leader has meanwhile cautioned officials of government to always strive to scrupulously uphold standing precepts governing internal operational procedures and general policy direction of their institutions.

Assistant Minister Matthew Nyanplu recently took to his Facebook page and wrote several articles regarding the recently announced Nekotech Scholarships. This is what the Assistant Minister wrote 

Liberians should not invest 1-kobo in NEKOTECH scam program:

No amount of face-saving on this national disgrace will help the Foreign Minister. Either she owns up to this colossal embarrassment she has caused the Government and the country or we have to tell Liberians not to invest a dime in it! 

Please fellow Liberians, do not pay 1 cent to NEKOTECH to study in the United States. 

NEKOTECH has no way, zero chance that you will get admitted into a US graduate school, nor secure the loan, grant or financial aid needed to study in the United States. 

To apply to a school in the United States, you DONOT need a third party who will take money from you and give you assurances that you will gain admission, secure the money needed to study and possibly get a job after you complete your study. 

You absolutely do not need any third party to take money from you for something you can do for yourself.

Additionally, NEKOTECH is telling you to study for and take DUOLINGO language test and that you must pay for it. Please DO NOT DO IT.

Liberia is an English speaking country. Most schools in the US already recognize Liberian credentials and you do not need any language test to gain admission to graduate school at most schools. At Harvard, Stanford, or Yale, no one is going to ask you for English test to admit you to a graduate program. Check that out, not to mention those little known schools that NEKOTECH says they are partnering with.

Any school in the United States now that is asking you for TOEFL, IELTS is behind time. There are 100more schools that recognize your Liberian education in lieu of the language test NEKOTECH is asking you to pay for and take. So they add no value for which you must pay money. DON'T PAY ZERO!

What they are calling work-study is a blatant LIE! 

Work study is a federally funded student aid program for needy students who need to work and study at the same time. You do not need to finish your program before you do work-study. So from the start to call what they are doing work-study is a deliberate LIE! only meant to excite you and eat your money. Don't pay 1 cent to NEKOTECH for anything! Zero.

Another fact they are lying about is the F1 visa OPT, optional practical training that they say is a guaranteed 3years opportunity to work in the United States. It is another LIE! 

F1 students enjoy 1 year opportunity to work in the United States after an academic degree program that lasts a minimum of 1 academic year. If your program is STEM, Science, Technology, Engineering or Mathematics, you have an option for an additional two years work opportunity after your study. Making STEM students to benefit conditional three years of work opportunity after study in an academic F1 program. I use the term conditional because that opportunity is not automatic. 

After completing a degree course of study, the USCIS gives foreign students about 3months/90days to find a job related to their field of study. If you fail to find a job within this period, your OPT could lapse and you could be required to leave the United States. If you are lucky to secure a job in this period in line with your study program, your OPT one year begins. If you are NON-STEM, you are at the mercy of the employer after the one year elapses and you automatically lose your work authorization.

If you are a STEM graduate, you can benefit from the OPT STEM extension of two years, making it three years if you pursued a STEM degree in the USA. 

So this three years work opportunity that NEKOTECH is trying to steal from you with is not their making. It is the making of the United States Government that no third party must use to profit from desperate students. 

The fact that they are calling it work-study and charging you to pay for it, is callously deceptive and extortionate. Additionally, admission to a US school does not guarantee to you a study visa. NEKOTECH is telling you lie that they are in contact with the US Embassy in Monrovia. That is a lie. The US Government does not allow third parties to intervene in visa applications. 

So no one should tell you to apply through us, you are guaranteed a US visa. And NEKOTECH is already asking students to pay for their air ticket as though the students got the admissions and they have received US visa. Without a US visa, no airline will take you to the United States. So they should stop extorting you.

Then they tell you their successful applicants who attended graduate schools in the USA earn a minimum of 80,000USD and upward of 200,000. We probably need to see and hear from those successful ones. I studied in the US and had unlimited work authorization. New graduates who they call entry level, earn between 45-55,000 if you are lucky. Then when you are a student with OPT who is not guaranteed the right to work beyond one-three years, your chances of recruitment actually diminishes in a pool of similarly qualified US citizens and lawful permanent residents who, unlike you the F1 student, have no restrictions on their work authorization. 

Employers are loathe to employ F1 students on OPT, our best option is internships that are not real jobs and pay less.

Dear Fellow Liberians, it is a disservice to our country for this to be happening. NEKOTECH tells you, you will earn 80,000 minimum and you will be able to pay your loan within the three years period you will be fortunate to work in the USA. How misleading.

The Government must immediately expel NEKOTECH from Liberia. The President must immediately act against the Foreign Minister for this broad day deception and disgrace to our country. 

And the fact that they do not seem repentant is even disgraceful. When we are entrusted to lead our people, we must resist the temptation to mislead our people.

PLEASE DONOT PAY A CENT TO NEKOTECH. 

If you are interested in pursuing advanced studies in the US, come let's have a conversation. I was down that road before, and I and many others can guide you free of charge.

God bless.

The Foreign Ministry must own up to this national disgrace and must stop promoting it. First it was a $25million dollar loan work study and $625,000 grant...then they are charging our poor Liberians. PLEASE DO NOT PAY 1CENT!!!