Category: South East

School fee by the newly-established Delta State University of Science and Technology (DSUST), Ozoro is causing disquiet among parents, students and stakeholders.

The list of the fee, which has been circulating on social media platforms, states that students of Delta State origin are expected to pay N185,000, while non-indigenes are to pay N225,000 for the 2021/2022 session.

A similar list by the Delta State University (DELSU), Abraka is also generating complaints.

DELSU students had protested hike in their fees last year, forcing the management to review the fees downwards by about 15 per cent for some courses.

Returning and fresh students were, however, shocked to discover that the fees have been hiked for the 2021/2022 session.

A 300 level student of the Faculty of Education said she paid N72,000 and N100,025 in her first and second year.

Noting that the new fee for her faculty was yet to be stipulated, she said there was hearsay that fees would be increased for the session.

Worried by the charges, some of which are perceived to be duplicated, some individuals and groups, including the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) have called for reduction of the fees, to allow children of the poor to acquire university education.

NANS, in a statement yesterday by its Deputy Coordinator, Southeast and Southsouth,  Oghale Emeka Rex, gave 48-hour ultimatum for the fees of both institutions to be slashed.

It frowned at the hike in school fees across Delta State-owned universities, saying other institutions thinking of toeing same line should jettison the idea.

The statement accused the management of the universities of duplicating or adding similar items in the fees with different charges to increase the fees.

Describing the development as an “extortion taken too far”, it demanded a suspension and downward review of the proposed fees for DSUST to nothing higher than N70,000, while that of DELSU should be reverted without delay.

The statement said: “The attention of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS Zone B) Southeast and Southsouth has been drawn to the reckless and insensitive hike in school fees across Delta State-owned universities, Delta State University, Abraka and Delta State University of Science and Technology, Ozoro in particular.

“This statement has become necessary after obtaining and critically analysing the details of the fees to avoid outright anarchy, breakdown of law and order in the affected campuses and eruption of marathon protests in the state.”

NANS urged Governor Ifeanyi Okowa to intervene, to “ameliorate the suffering and burden of parents,” who ought to benefit from his prosperity for all Deltans agenda.

Contacted for comments, DSUST Vice Chancellor Prof. Jacob Oboreh, who sounded uncertain about some of the charges on the list, flared up and hung up during a phone conversation with our reporter, when asked to be taped.

DELSU spokesman promised to reach this reporter after seeking “clarification” on the issue, but he did not do so at press time.

Bayelsa State Governor Douye Diri has warned land speculators to stay away from the 6,000 hectares acquired by the government for the new Yenagoa City.

He warned landlords, who had forfeited their rights to the ownership of the land, to steer clear.

The governor spoke yesterday while performing the groundbreaking for the new commissioner’s quarters as part of activities to mark the second anniversary of his administration.

He initiated the project under the supervision of the Commissioner for Lands, Housing and Urban Development, Esau Andrew.

The governor was reacting to an appeal by the landlords of the site comprising Amarata, Fangbe, Tombia, Onopa and Yenizue-Gene communities not to forget the families in terms of employment and contracts.

He said: “I thank the families who are well represented here for cooperating with the government and for giving up their right of ownership of this land to the state government for the development of Bayelsa State and Yenagoa metropolis.

“It follows that this land is no longer your community. The landlord of this land today is the government of Bayelsa State. This is what the previous landlords of the airports facility should understand. We have heard reports and sometimes even protest of going to disrupt operations at the airport.

“The moment, by the laws of this country, the state government acquires your land and pays compensation fully, it means that that land is no longer your own. So, my brother, you have sold the goat and the rope to Bayelsa State Government and we appreciate you for that.

“It doesn’t actually mean that like you appealed to the government, if there are certain things to benefit, the government will look at you as the number one beneficiaries. But I will like you to disabuse the minds of colleagues that this land still belongs to them. This land no longer belongs to those families.”

Diri hailed the administration of former Governor Seriake Dickson for the vision to expand Yenagoa by acquiring the land for a new city.

Andrew said the new Yenagoa City GRA was established by law and placed under the management of the New Yenagoa City Development Agency.

He said the area was designed for 1,300 residential layouts, including commercial plots, hospitality areas, recreational centres, among others.

Andrew said Diri, in fulfilment of his campaign promise in the housing sector, had resolved to transform the new Yenagoa City to be the Lekkis, the Banana Islands and the Bahamas of Bayelsa State.

Edo State Government, Nigerian National Petroleum Company Ltd (NNPC) and a leading energy conglomerate, Sahara Group, have joined forces to drive the construction of the 17km stretch Ikpako-Ajoki road in Edo State, to facilitate trade and development.

The project is the brainchild of the joint venture between the NNPC and Enageed Resource Ltd, a Sahara Group upstream company, in collaboration with the Edo State Government.

The project is scheduled to be completed between 18 and 24 months.

NNPC/Sahara JVs have been instrumental to the delivery of projects in health, education, environment and capacity building across the nation and Africa.

In 2017, the NNPC and Sahara Group unveiled two ultramodern Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) vessels, Africa Gas and Sahara Gas, to bolster LPG security in Nigeria and Africa. Both vessels continue to enhance access to clean energy, with Sahara Group targeting further $1 billion investment in LPG infrastructure.

Speaking at the project’s launch, Governor Godwin Obaseki said the road would among others boost trade, agricultural activities and facilitate oil and gas operations for the benefit of the state and the nation.

NNPC Group Managing Director (GMD) Mele Kyari said: “What we are witnessing here today is an endorsement of collaboration as a viable means of promoting national development. The successes realised from working with Sahara on ventures reinforce the efforts of the Federal Government aimed at transforming the economy through credible and innovative partnerships. We commend the Edo State Government for playing a strategic role in this collaboration and we believe that the best is yet to come.”

Bayelsa State stakeholders in the modular refineries initiative have urged the Federal Government to speed up the process of granting them licences, to enable them begin operations.

They warned that delay in granting the licences could portray the Federal Government in bad light and make the people to return to the creeks to damage oil facilities and the environment.

The warning came just as a group, the Project with Artisanal Crude Oil Refiners (PACOR), yesterday inaugurated three cooperative societies.

The National Facilitator, PACOR, Fyneface Dumnamene, said that in line with the directives of President Muhammadu Buhari, the body inaugurated Bayelsa West, Central and East Modular Refinery Multi-Purpose Cooperative Society Ltd.

He said the societies would act as the authentic platforms for the real artisanal crude oil refiners.

Dumnamene, the executive director, Youth and Environmental Advocacy Centre (YEAC), said the centre had been advocating the initiative since 2017 and they were happy that the President accepted and directed them to form it into cooperatives for licences approval.

He said: “The cooperative you see today is the platform to drive this process for the modular refineries to be set up. Local and international partners are coming, companies that are into businesses will partner them, the blueprint will be designed and people will come in as business partners.

“These are the authentic platforms of the real artisanal crude oil refiners, who have stopped and embraced the Federal Government’s policy on modular refineries as alternatives means of livelihoods in Bayelsa State.

“The cooperative has a constitution, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) and everything will be done according to the law of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Whatever investment that is going to be made is not going to anybody’s pocket; it will go into an account that people who have control over it will manage and use it to build the modular refineries.”

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Members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University (COOU), Anambra State branch, said yesterday that they were opposed to the planned strike by their national body.

They described ASUU strike as counterproductive, stressing that such actions had not yielded any result as far as the institution was concerned.

Addressing reporters at the Igbariam campus of the university, the Interim Chairman, Prof. Osita Chiaghanam, said lecturers had benefited from the generosity of the outgoing visitor, Governor Willie Obiano.

He said welcoming the incoming visitor and governor-elect, Prof.  Soludo, who he hoped would sustain the tempo, with industrial action, would amount to wickedness.

Chiaghanam said: “We’re not in doubt that Soludo will favour us in terms of our demands. We believe he will like the university to move forward by meeting our demands.

“As a Professor of Economics, he’ll pay more attention to us because he’s coming from a university background. Once a lecturer, he will understand better and pay more attention to our demands.

“There’s no justification to join the strike because what comes out of the strike doesn’t benefit state universities. It only benefits federal universities.

“We go on strike with our colleagues in federal universities and they’ll be paid at the end of the day. But we’ll be referred to our visitor to address our matter.”

Edo State youths yesterday protested the insensitivity of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) to the plight of the citizens, noting that they did not benefit from the capital-intensive projects by the Federal Government interventionist agency.

They also decried the refusal by the President Muhammadu Buhari administration to inaugurate the screened and confirmed members of the NDDC board.

The protesters, who carried placards, took over the Murtala Muhammed Way, Benin, disrupting vehicular and human traffic.

They urged Buhari to move NDDC from the Ministry of the Niger Delta Affairs to the Presidency, where it was initially.

The demonstrators, under the aegis of Concerned Edo Citizens, in conjunction with Coalition of Edo Volunteers Groups, in a statement by Eni Balulu, a lawyer; Eshiefaotsa Sylanus and Kola Edokpayi, said: “We demand the inauguration of the substantive board of the NDDC, as currently constituted, screened and confirmed by the Senate since November 2019.  

“We are calling for the release of a White Paper on the forensic audit report, submitted to the Federal Government on September 2, 2021, and to take punitive actions against the persons found wanting and indicted by the report, to act as a deterrent to others.”

The protesters said the noble intention of the President to clean NDDC had been hijacked by ‘hawks,’ who, they alleged, had found willing partners in the new interim arrangement, thereby continuing the nefarious activities in the commission, to the detriment of Niger Delta people.