Benue students protest nonpayment of bursary

From Uche Nnorom Makurdi

Benue state university law students yesterday staged a protest under the heavy down pour at Government House over nonpayment of their bursary fees.
The students who numbered over 50 did not carry placards as they stormed the Government House as early as 7 am.
Leader of the protesting students, Michael Gwaza of Kano Campus said there are over 220 law students studying in Abuja, Enugu, Lagos, Bayelsa states, intimating that they enjoy bursary fee of N250,000 which was drastically reduced to mere N100,000 by the present administration.
Gwaza said several efforts have been made to communicate their plights in writing to government officials including the Secretary to the State Government,SSG, the commissioner of Education and the State Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice but all to no avail.
His words; “we have written over 10 letters and seen government functionaries but there has been no positive response. Sometimes ago, we wrote a letter to the Commissioner for Justice Michael Gusa which we expected should have been handled over to Governor Samuel Ortom for prompt action but nothing was done.
“Five(5) weeks ago, we wrote another letter to the SSG Prof. Anthony Ijohor and went to his office more than 5 times but could not meet him.
“At one time, we heard on the State radio that government approved the release of N22 million for the payment of the bursary fees but same government denied it.
“It is unfortunate how we are treated. We have been in the rain waiting to see the governor whom we learnt travelled out of town. Some of us may not go back to school because we borrowed a lot of money. We only have this week to get funds,” Gwaza said.
Addressing the students, the SSG Anthony Ijohor assured that government will act on the issue.