Former Niger Delta militants have begun to protest the deduction of N45,000 from their allowance by blocking off the Ugheli/Asaba expressway.
The protesters had been schooling at the Admiralty University in Delta State, under the Federal Government Amnesty program and placed on a N70,000 monthly in-training allowance(ITA).
But after discovering that N45,000 is sent to the school to feed each of them, leaving them with N25,000, the recipients have consistently shown their disapproval.
Things then took a new turn when they took their protests to the expressway and barricaded it for more than two hours. The protest subsequently caused gridlock on the road, forcing may travelers to abandon their vehicles on the road.
It took the intervention of police officers and DSS men to clear the road.
Among other demands, the students lamented that they wanted their feeding allowance to paid directly to them, an end to compulsory mid-semester breaks, and consistency in Admission letters as well as matriculation numbers.
In reaction to the incident, the media aide to President Buhari’s Special Adviser, Mr. Murphy Ganagana, explained that part of the admission conditions indicated that the school would take care of students feeding.
Therefore, the Amnesty Office sends a N45,000 cut from each delegate’s allowance to the school on a monthly basis. Although, some other monthly settlements are also sent to them.
He stated, “Despite communicating and clarifying the development to our delegates at the institution during an orientation exercise, some of them decided not to accept the sponsorship letters offered them by the Amnesty Programme.
“The Amnesty Office hereby advises its delegates at Admiralty University opposed to the institution’s feeding policy and rejected the sponsorship letters to vacate the school premises and apply in writing to the Presidential Amnesty Programme for redeployment to other universities for the next academic session.
“We wish to emphasize that deployment for the 2018/19 academic session has elapsed in the Presidential Amnesty Programme and redeployment to other institutions is not feasible presently. Boat operator, assistant arrested for endangering the lives of 12 school children
“While payment will be processed on acceptance of terms of scholarship by delegates at Admiralty University, those who rejected the offer are to vacate the school premises without further delay and shall not be entitled to any payment.
“Amnesty Programme delegates deployed in the institution for the current academic session have a window of seven (7) days with effect from today (3rd to 10th April, 2019) to take a position on this issue, by accepting or declining the offer of sponsorship”.
Also, read: We will force drivers to rest for six hours every day – Uber