The Delta Human Rights Protection Congress (DHRPC) has protested alleged extortion of students by the management of Delta State School of Nursing, Warri.
The DHRPC, a coalition of human rights groups in the state, on Monday, February 21, stormed the premises of the institution on a fact finding mission.
The group led by its Patron, Pastor Edewor Egedegbe, met with the principal of the school, Dr. Timothy Ogaga, to present the allegations levelled against the institute.
Some of the allegations include; “extorting money from students to fuel the school’s generating sets, [overcrowding the hostel] – 12 students in a room meant for 4 students, compelling students to pay for Valentine’s Day celebration, among others”.
Addressing newsmen shortly after the meeting, Egedegbe said the group would interface with the Delta Commissioner for Education and the Chairman, Delta House Committee on Health.
“We are not done with our findings yet, we are coming back and also make our fact findings known to the public.
“You see that there were tendencies that could suggest that something is really fishy.
“Because we are in a government where the plight of the people does not really matter and that is why people could squeeze the thing they are doing now.
“For us, we have taken what we need to take, but the beauty of what has happened today is that the principal granted us audience and we had a good conversation.
“However, at some point, we were disgruntled by virtue of one political office holder that called in to ensure we do not get access to the hostel any longer.
“But we have vowed to press further and get to the root of all the allegations we heard that brought us to this point of meeting,” he said.
Also speaking, Mr Kelvin Ejumudo, a member of the DHRPC, said the group had several petitions against the school in its office.
“We are on a mission to liberate the oppressed from every wilderness of oppression. We have several petitions in our office against the school and we came on a fact finding mission,” he said.
Responding, the school principal, Ogaga said the allegations were not true.
“Our hostels accommodate 6 persons per room. We also have cubicles for the students to use while we are carrying out renovations.
“We do not collect illegal money from the students. They only pay N10,000 as exam fee which is legal.
“As for Valentine, we do not collect money from the students to celebrate Valentine. I am not a kid to be celebrating Valentine. I have two children in the universities,” he said.