Students protest non-payment of bursary in Calabar

Hundreds of students from the Cross River University of Technology (CRUTECH), under the umbrella of National Association of Cross River State Students (NACRISS) on Friday marched on the streets of Calabar carrying placards with different inscriptions on a peaceful protest.

The aggrieved students were protesting the non-payment of bursary by the Cross River state government which they claimed is their fundamental human right as indigenes of the state.

The protest, which was led by the president of the university student union government, was monitored by the security agencies.

The students accused the national president of NACRISS worldwide, Obi Emma and his director of social Richard Otu of collecting money worth over N3 million from the students in the name of bursary welfare package allegedly instructed by the state government, but several months after they were told that the state did not promise any bursary, a situation that made the students felt cheated.

The union leaders also attributed their protest on the unhealthy increment in their school fees which according to them has been raised to about N100, 000, a development they described as once too many.

They accused the university authority of inability to provide security and basic infrastructure to commensurate with the increase in their school fees.

The students, who ended their protest at government house where the State Governor Liyel Imoke, represented by his deputy Efiok Cobham assured them of government support at all times.

Mr Imoke while urging the students not to take laws into their hands said their complains will be investigated and critically   looked into.