WASSCE: Pupils attack Osun radio station, vandalise vehicles

Some secondary school pupils in Osun State on Thursday staged a violent protest against the decision of the state government to stop the payment of the West African Senior School Certification Examinations fees.

Hundreds of students trooped out in Ile-Ife to protest the new policy and some of them reportedly attacked some motorists while some of them vandalised property belonging to Orisun FM, a radio station owned by the state government.

Due to the financial crisis facing the state, it was gathered that the state government decided to scale down the number of pupils whose fees would be paid this year.

This was said to have made the government announce that it would not pay the WASSCE fees of any pupil who failed to have four credits in the mock-examinations.

Our correspondent also gathered that secondary school pupils trooped out at Gbogan to protest the new policy.

They were said to have blocked the main road and caused a traffic snarl.

The pupils were said to have vented their anger on the radio station and vandalised some cars parked on the premises before they left.

A resident of Ile-Ife, who identified himself as Remi, told our correspondent on the telephone that the rampaging pupils attacked some motorists as they marched through the streets.

The rampaging pupils, on getting to the radio station, were said to have requested to see the Station Manager, Mr. Adeoye Bakare, but only four of them were allowed on the premises to see Bakare, who was in his office.

The students, on getting to the manager, were said to have instructed him to broadcast their protest on the radio that the state government had refused to pay their WASSCE fees as promised during the electioneering.

Efforts to appease the furious pupils was said to have exacerbated the situation as they pelted him with stones. His cry for help was said to have attracted some of the workers who engaged the students in a fight.

The fracas that ensued between the four pupils and the workers was said to have attracted the majority of the pupils at the gate and they reportedly joined in beating up the workers including the security guard at the entrance.

One of the presenters on air was said to have sent a distress call to security operatives on air and it took the intervention of the policemen before the pupils were dispersed.

The policemen were said to have fired tear gas into the premises which eventually forced them to flee the station.

However, the Police Public Relations Officer in the state, Mrs. Folasade Odoro, could not be reached for comment on the crisis.

But the Consultant to Osun State Government on Information, Mr. Sunday Akere, when contacted, told our correspondent that the pupils were instigated by some persons he did not mention.

He said the government decided not to pay for all the students because of the limited resources and because some of the pupils were not serious with their studies.

It will be recalled that some pupils at a secondary school in Osogbo chased teachers with a locally-made gun in December 2015 over the same WASSCE fees.