By Wisdom Nwedene, Umuahia
Governor Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia State, on Thursday, scrapped the payment of N15,000 “Pandemic Prevention Fee” in Abia State University (ABSU) and authorized the payment of N30,000 pocket money to each Abia students in the institution.
Yesterday, the Internet was set ablaze after a press statement demanding 15,000 naira from all returning students circulated on social media.
Reacting over the development, Ikpeazu during a Town Hall meeting with students & management of Abia State University cancelled the pandemic prevention fee.
Governor Ikpeazu also said that his administration is proud of the progress made by the institution in the past 5 years and will continue to support them
He said : “Yesterday, I had a Town Hall meeting with students & management of Abia State University where a fee of N25,000 per student was proposed as medical fee but slashed to N15,000 to help ABSU put in place adequate measures to protect the soon to resume students from COVID-19 pandemic”.
“In that same meeting, I approved immediate bursary payment to students of Abia origin in ABSU, to alleviate impact of COVID-19 on them & enable them meet the medical fee obligations with ease.”
“However, after a deep review of the agreement & its likely effect all the students & their parents, I’ve directed the immediate scrapping of the “pandemic prevention fee” by school management. Our government will now go ahead to pay N30,000 to each Abia student in the institution as further support to them, their parents and guardians in this very difficult moment of economic downturn caused by the global health crisis.”
“Let me also add that we are proud of the progress made by the institution in the past 5 years and will continue to support them.”