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Ondo Students Defy Rain To Protest Nonpayment Of Bursary Since 2015

September 14, 2018

The students stormed the Ondo State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission (OSOPADEC) office at Oba Ile, chanting solidarity songs.

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Some students in Ondo State defied heavy rain and protested the continued delay of the payment of their bursary allowances.

The students from Ilaje and Ese Odo Local Government Area of the state carried placards bearing various inscriptions.

They claimed they were owed bursary allowances for 2015/2016; 2016/2017, and 2017/2018 session.

The students stormed the Ondo State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission (OSOPADEC) office at Oba Ile, on Thursday, chanting solidarity songs.

Security officials were on alert to ensure the protest was peaceful. 

The enraged students accused the Governor Rotimi Akeredolu-led government of insensitivity to their plight.

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Comrade Adeola Balogun, President of the National Association of Ilaje Students (NAIS), said students from riverrine areas of the state had not received their funds since 2016.

Balogun explained that the students are entitled to N40,000 allowances as bursary annually, noting that the government had been paying them. 

He, however, said: "For the past six months, we have not received any bursary allowance and the state government and OSOPADEC keeps posting us. 

"In fact, they told us within the next six months, our outstanding allowances would be paid and we are in the eighth month of September, yet nothing has been heard.

 

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"We have held lots of meeting with representatives of OSOPADEC and the state government, but again we want the governor to tell us the true position as regards our bursary."

According to Balogun, the students from Ilaje and Ese Odo areas of the state solemnly depend on the funds to survive in school.

He noted that many of the students could no longer cope with academic activities, since the bursary was yet to be paid. 

"Many of us here, our parents are on the river; they cannot even the get fishes to sponsor us in school.

"We are suffering in the waterside area; the water is no longer good and we are suffering. 

"Even, the token we usually get from the government is no longer coming. How do we survive it?" he queried.

 

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The President of the Federation of Ese Odo Local Governement, Tina Tinatei, who joined the protesting students accused the government of playing politics with their bursary.

Journalists could not immediately get the reaction of the commission's chairman, Gbenga Edema, as attempts to contact him were unsucesful. 

However, source in the office of the commission told SaharaReporters that Edema was currently out of the state.