Osagie Otabor, Akure

The National Association of Ondo State Students (NAOSS) has urged Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu to fulfill his promise of disbursing bursary to indigenous students.

It said such an action would revive the hope of students in the All Progressives Congress-led administration.

National President of NAOSS, Kikiowo Ayoade, who spoke at a press briefing in Akure, said previous administrations paid bursaries to students until 2015.

Ayoade stated that his predecessor began successful registration in 2019 and 6,427 Ondo state students completed their registration.

He said Governor Akeredolu promised to disburse bursary at a meeting with the body in January this year.

“We have waited eight months since we received the promise and yet, no single student of Ondo state has received payment. It is indeed sad to recognize that the whole budget required to pull this off is N60,000,000.

“While we understand the several bottlenecks of running a government, we hold our position that budgeting sixty million for students for over eight months is nothing but overdue.

“Payment for the bursary is overdue and students of Ondo state and their financiers, especially coming off the back of a pandemic, could be greatly relieved, even as some schools gear to resume in the country.”