HUNDREDS of students of Kwara state origin in various tertiary institutions in the country, under the umbrella of the National Association of Kwara state students, on Wednesday, staged a peaceful protest over unpaid bursary and scholarship allowance by the state government.
The students, who marched through major roads in the Ilorin state capital under the watch of law enforcement agents, caused traffic gridlock as they barricaded some roads.
A spokesperson of the students, Sola Kamaldeen, of the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife, who condemned attitude of the state government to the growth of education in the state, said they concluded to hold the protest when discussions failed with the state government.
“It is disheartening to say that since July 2015, the state government has not paid us despite receiving monthly federal allocation. We have written series of letters to the state governor, Alhaji Abdulfatah Ahmed on the need to pay the bursary being owed us but all to no avail”, he said.
Also speaking, the Senior Special Assistant to Governor Ahmed on Media and Communications, Dr Muideen Akorede, reiterated commitment of the state government to pay the bursaries and scholarship awards to their students in tertiary institutions.
The governor’s aide said that the a sum of N500million was earmarked for bursaries, while N450m was allocated for scholarship awards in the 2017 budget proposal currently before the State House of Assembly.
He also said that despite the current financial situation, the government was focussed on payment of salaries, pensions and infrastructure.
Armed with various inscriptions like, ‘Governor Ahmed pay us our entitlements,’, “Students of Kwara origin are suffering’, “We did not vote for sufferings”, Please pay us our bursary among others, the protesters commenced their march from headquarters of the state police command, through the office of the State Security Service and finally to the front of Government House, Ilorin.
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