NO fewer than 500 students of the Anambra State –owned Nwafor Orizu College of Education, Nsugbe yesterday took to the streets of Awka to protest alleged extortion by officials of the state government.

Operating under the aegis of Joint Campus Committee, the students, who carried placards and chanted solidarity songs, caused traffic gridlock along the Enugu –Onitsha expressway.

Inscription on some of their placards read: “Voice of Students Must be Heard”,    “Students Say No to Intimidation” and “Commissioner for Transport Encouraging Tout”.

The students sat with their placards on the expressway and insisted that they would not leave unless they were allowed to see Governor Willie Obiano.

A police Superintendent,  Willie Odumu, who came with a team from the command headquarters, however, convinced the protesters to leave the scene, reminding them that although they had right to peaceful protest, they should not disturb public peace in the process.

He also assured the students that their grouse would be appropriately looked into.

Leader of the students,  Betty Okoye, who claimed to be the chairman of JCC in Anambra State, said they could no longer condone a situation where agents who claimed to be working for government inflicted hardship on students, adding that the alleged agents often frustrate smooth operation of the bus station designated for students’ shuttle park in Onitsha.

According to him, the students of Nwafor Orizu College of Education Nsugbe pay between N50 and N70 using the designated park, but were being made to pay between N150 and N200 in the agents’ designated parks. – Vanguard

Aug 3, 2017 @ 13:25 GMT