Follow Us on Google
From Joseph Obukata, Warri
Hundreds of students of Delta State origin have laid siege to the headquarters of the Delta State Oil Producing Area Development Commission (DESOPADEC) over non-payment of their annual bursary.
The students, in the hours of Wednesday, besieged the head office of the commission chanting war songs in protest of the non-payment of their annual bursaries.
Daily Sun gathered that the students who were drawn from the mandate areas of the oil commission, crippled official activities at the interventionist agency located along the Warri-Sapele road for the better part of the day until they dispersed.
The protesting students who bore placards with various inscriptions, accused the management of the agency of insensitivity to their plights, alleging that some authorities in the commission might have used their money for politics.
According to one of the student leaders, the commission has continued to pay deaf ears to their demands, hence the mass action.
An attempt by a staff of the commission who gave his name as Harriman Aghogho to address the protesting students was rebuffed as the students overwhelmed him.
He, however, said that the commission just initiated the process of the payment of the student bursary, appealing to the students to exercise some restraint.
Aghogho said that machinery is in place to open the portal before the next academic session for the payment to be made.
“It is a process, I was the one who initiated the payment process. I can assure you that the payment will be made”, he told the protesters.
When contacted, Chief Information Officer at DESOPADEC, Mr Boniface Nzesi, who said he was in Asaba, the state capital, noted that the Governor had just reappointed the Executive Director of Finance and Administration, John Nani who is expected to facilitate the payment.
He said that with the reappointment of Nani, the bursary payment will be quickly processed and money released to the student.
Nani, alongside the chairman of the board, Michael Diden aka Ejele and the Managing Director of the commission, Askia Ogieh had resigned their appointment to seek elective positions.
While Ejele won the Delta South senate ticket for PDP, Nani and Askia were defeated in their quest to pick the PDP ticket for Delta Central Senatorial District and Isoko Federal Constituency ticket respectively.
