Ogieh, had in April 2022 resigned his position as Managing Director, of DESOPADEC to contest the just concluded Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP) primaries for the Isoko Federal House of Representatives but he was defeated.
Delta State students studying in tertiary institutions across Nigeria, on Wednesday protested against the Managing Director, of the Delta State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission, (DESOPADEC), Askia Ogieh, for alleged refusal to pay them their three years’ bursaries.
Ogieh, had in April 2022 resigned his position as Managing Director, of DESOPADEC to contest the just concluded Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP) primaries for the Isoko Federal House of Representatives but he was defeated.
Surprisingly, he got reappointed on Tuesday by Governor Ifeanyi Okowa.
The students numbering over 5000, brandished placards of different inscriptions such as "Students lives matter", "We need our bursary, education is now expensive". "Askia has used our money to run his PDP House of Representatives primary". "Askia paid each delegates N3 million during the PDP house of representatives primary but denying us our rights" "We need our bursary", DESOPADEC is bleeding because of the looting of our common wealth," and "Delta politicians have finished DESOPADEC."
SaharaReporters reliably gathered that the aggrieved students who stormed the headquarters of the commission in Warri, immediately barricaded the entrance gate of the commission, demanding for their three years bursaries.
The students alleged that the commission's MD had refused to pay them their bursaries for the past three years before he resigned few months ago to contest an election.
Speaking to SaharaReporters, one of the students who simply identified himself as Oghenekevwe, noted that "The essence of this DESOPADEC bursary was to help those Nigerian undergraduate students that come from the Oil Producing Areas in Delta State. But rather than paying us this bursary, politicians at the helm of affairs of the commission, will use our money for their personal gains. The MD, Askia, is just enriching himself in that commission while we students suffer. For three years now, Askia has not paid us our bursary, but he has millions of naira in dollars to buy delegates' votes during the PDP primaries where he contested for the House of Representatives in Isoko federal constituency."
Other students who spoke to SaharaReporters, condemned the non-payment of their bursary for the past three years, an act they described as "wickedness of the highest order", adding that from good authorities, the money for the bursary had been released long ago by the state government and wondered why till date no dime had been given to them.
Addressing the protesting students, Head of Department, (HOD), social services, Harriman Aghogho, appealed to the students to remain calm and law abiding as the process to address their agitation was already on.
Photos: of the Students' Protest by Sahara Reporters on Scribd