Paul Osuyi, Asaba

Vehicular movements on the ever-busy Asaba-Ughelli expressway was grounded for several hours on Friday as a result of a protest by some Niger Delta ex-agitators undergoing training at the Admiralty University, Ibusa, in Delta State.

The students barricaded the road in protest against alleged reduction of N45,000 from their monthly In-Training Allowance (ITA) of N70,000. Their action rendered travelers on the road helpless.

But the intervention of the police and men of Department the State Service (DSS) later restored normalcy.

Delta State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Adeleke Adeyinka, who led the security team to clear the blockade created by the protesters, later held a meeting with the students and the Vice Chancellor of the institution, Leinard Shilgba.

The aggrieved students who demanded among other things, that the monthly allowance which included their feeding be paid to them directly, also called for the regularisation of admission letter/matriculation number and forceful mid-semester vacation of the school premises among other things.

They rejected the school food, demanding henceforth to feed themselves.

Reacting, media aide to the Special Adviser to the President Muhammadu Buhari on Amnesty Programme, Mr. Murphy Ganagana, said part of the conditions for offer of admission to its prospective students was compulsory provision of feeding by the institution for which the Amnesty Office agreed to pay N45,000 monthly for their feeding out a sum of N70,000 entitled to each student as ITA.

“Consequently, delegates of the Amnesty programme on sponsorship at Admiralty University are to receive N25,000 monthly being the balance on their ITA, along with other entitlements.

“However, 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.

“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 days with effect from April 3 to April 10, 2019, to take a position on this issue, by accepting or declining the offer of sponsorship,” Ganagana said