The Delta State Government has approved the release of funds for the payment of the 2019/2020 Students’ Special Assistance Scheme, otherwise known as bursary, for students of the state origin in tertiary institutions across the country.
Commissioner for Information, Mr Charles Aniagwu, who disclosed this in a statement, yesterday, in Asaba, said the payment would commence before the end of the week.
He said the continuous payment of the bursary to Delta State students despite the economic hardship in the country was a demonstration of Governor Ifeanyi Okowa’s commitment to human capital development of the state.
Aniagwu further urged Delta students to take advantage of the bursary payment to improve on their studies and continue to be good ambassadors of the state wherever they are studying.
While commending the leadership of the Delta State student’s community for identifying with the many people oriented programmes of the Governor Okowa-led government, Aniagwu assured that the administration would continue to pay priority attention to improvement of infrastructure in all institutions of learning as well as welfare of students.
In another development, members of staff of Edo City Transport Service (ECTS) on Monday blocked the entrance gate to the company over non-payment of salaries by the company.
Some of them, who carried various placards with inscription like ‘Obaseki save us from Mrs Edugie’ ‘Pay us our salaries’, told newsmen that the Managing Director, Mrs Edugie had not paid salaries for the past two months, thereby making things difficult for them.
According to them: “We have not received salaries for the past two months and she (Mrs Edugie) is enjoying alone with our sweat, we do the job.
“We have drivers and conductors here, we have families, how do we cater for them when we are not being paid, even when we are doing our job well.
“She wants us to eat grass, how do we feed our families especially this festive period when families are having nice time together? She should pay our money.
“We heard the government wanted to help out in paying but she objected by saying she is capable of paying but up till now we have not gotten any payment.”
They appealed to Governor Godwin Obaseki to come to their rescue by intervening as quickly as possible so that they can purchase foodstuffs and other things for better Christmas celebration with their families.