Students of College of Health Sciences and Technology in Jega, Kebbi State have attacked the Provost, Alhaji Haruna Saidu-Sauwa’s residence over an allegation of extortion.
Gatekeepers News reports that the provost’s house was set ablaze and his vehicle vandalised during the violent protest that was due to allegations that the college management extorted N23m from students regarding index registration for 250 graduating students.
Before the incident, a newly introduced Public Health programme, which was initially affiliated with Reproductive Health and the Public Health Association of Nigeria was introduced.
According to reports; the college merged the programme with the Department of Environmental Health to secure certification, leading to a demand for an additional N65,000 from each student for index registration, in addition to the N30,000 already paid.
The students stating that they were being extorted, responded violently by stoning vehicles and setting the provost’s residence on fire.
The violent protest was put to an end by security agencies who intervened and chased away the protesters.
Reacting, provost of the varsity, Sawwa, described the allegations making the rounds that he had connived with a certain body in Oyo State to extort students of his college to the tune of N23m as “ fictitious, baseless and mischievous.”
Sawwa denied the allegations that a certain course was introduced leading to payment of additional money by the students, describing it as the imagination of those spreading the story.
He said, “The said publications carried an unknown source who gave his own version of the story. I challenge the person to come clean in his allegations of student extortion and his claim of course duplications.”
“Let me state here in categorical terms that I and the school management have no hand in the said allegations of course duplications and extortion.”
“Our school operates the Single Treasury Account where all monies belonging to the school are paid to and no one has access to the account including me.”
Also reacting, Kebbi State Police Command’s Public Relations Officer (PRO), SP Nafiu Abubakar, said further details would be provided once information from the Divisional Police Officer in Jega was available.
