Ugochukwu Iwuchukwu
Some students in Rivers State have staged a peaceful walk in Port Harcourt over the inability of the Niger Delta Development Commission NDDC to pay the tuition fees of students on foreign scholarships.
The students who marched to the office of NDDC in Port Harcourt called on the management of the commission to urgently pay the fees of students who are currently stranded abroad.
The leader of the protesting students and the President of a faction of Niger Delta Students Union Government NIDSUG, Nepba Goodness said the students will occupy the premises of NDDC if the commission fails to pay the fees of students stranded abroad.
“We are here to express our displeasure in solidarity with our students who are abroad, who are stranded, they did not pay their money to be there. NDDC said they should come that they have been awarded scholarships, why is it that today after two years, they are unable to pay them, we are saying enough is enough. We are saying that this should stop. We don’t want it, we don’t like it, those students are our brothers, they are our sisters, they are part of us and if those students are not paid been their tuition fees we will come back and occupy this place.
“The National Executive of the Niger Delta Students Union Government NIDSUG have decided to issue the Niger Delta Development Commission NDDC a five-day ultimatum to pay the school fees of the students on foreign scholarship. Failure to do so we will come back and occupy this place”.
The President of Students Union Government of Captain Elechi Amadi Polytechnic, Port Harcourt, Alex Ayoride during the protest appealed to President Muhammadu to intervene in the matter.
Alex Ayoride said the stranded students are suffering abroad and deserve to be paid their fees.
He also asked the NDDC to bring back the students on foreign scholarship if they cannot train them.
