Students of the Federal Government College, Ohafia, Abia, and their parents, have decried the way the new management of the institution is treating them.

Hope Goodness Onyema, a student disclosed: “The Principal [Mr. D.I. Okengwo] feeds us with rotten meat and vegetables which he buys by himself, keep in his house and when it is about to spoil, he will bring it out for the cooks to feed us with.”

The Principal, he added, provides only one bag of rice to the over 1350 students of the college.

Another student, Obinna Ezeani, alleged that Mr. Okengwo has employed his sister as the sole supplier of most of the food items. The Principal, according to Mr. Ezeani, even requested that the bakery supplying bread to the college reduced the bread size from N65 to N40.

A catering officer has been relieved of her duties for refusing to feed students with the rotten food items, students say.

Students’ parents lament the “high-handedness of the college Principal and his inability to follow good conscience by treating the students as sons and daughters.”

“The Principal imposed the sum of N40,000 on parents of mid-stream students for the collection of prospective booklets, and now he acts as the bursar of the college by collecting the dues he has imposed on students by himself,” said Ngozi Ejiofor, one of the mothers.

She told how Mr. Okengwo had refused to live in the Principal’s house on the college premises since he was appointed to the school. If he actually lived on the campus, she says, he would see the plight of the students.

The parents are now calling on the Minister of Education and other relevant authorities to investigate these allegations and intervene to bring an end to the ceaseless suffering meted out to these students every day.

However, when contacted, one of the teachers at the school dismissed such allegations as baseless. There was nothing in the character of the school Principal to warrant such charges, the teacher, who pleaded anonymity, said.

Established in 1999, FGC Ohafia is one of the 104 unity colleges in the country owned by the Federal Government.