Foreign scholarship scheme will not be abandoned - Ekere

Nsima-Ekere

Mr Nsima Ekere, Managing Director, NDDC.

Mr Nsima Ekere, Managing Director, NDDC.

Mr Nsima Ekere, the Managing Director, Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) says the commission will not abandon its foreign scholarship scheme instituted seven years ago.

Ekere said this in a statement issued by the Director, Corporate Affairs of the commission, Mr Ibitoye Abosede on Friday.

According to the statement, Ekere made the promise in an interview with newsmen in his office at the commission’s headquarters in Port Harcourt.

The managing director said that more than 80 per cent of the bursaries had been disbursed, adding that all genuine NDDC scholars would definitely receive their due disbursements.

“It might take time and we regret the delay and hardship, but we are doing everything possible to ensure that we release the funds to them as soon as possible,” he assured.

Ekere expressed regret that some people were using the NDDC scholarship scheme to defraud the government because it was being paid in hard currencies.

“They pretend to be NDDC scholars when in actual fact they are not. So, this is the problem that we have had and that is why some of the scholars didn’t get their money in time.”

He sympathised with the honest scholars who were caught up in the delays, assuring that where genuine cases were identified, they would be treated immediately.

“We understand what they are going through and the hardships they have had to face and we also seek their understanding because a lot of people abused the scholarship scheme.

“We discovered that there were a lot of discrepancies in the way the scholarships programme was being administered.

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“We award scholarships for studies abroad but you find out that monies were paid to people who were still in Nigeria. We didn’t see why that should happen.

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“There were other cases where people got admission for a certain course in a certain school and then along the line, because there is a fixed amount that is paid to every scholar, some of them will go to a different university for a different programme other than what the scholarship is for, just because maybe the school is cheaper.

“So in our records here, we may see that the scholar is probably in the University of Aberdeen, while we are getting an invoice from a University in Canada.”

Ekere said that the scholarship scheme was borne of the need to bridge the huge manpower deficit in the region, especially in engineering, science and technology fields that drive the oil industry.

“We have certain areas we want to concentrate on because we want to develop our professional manpower.

“We discover that some of them have gone for other courses different from what the scholarship was for. So, these are some of the areas and we set up a committee to look at them and try to resolve them .”

The NDDC boss said that within two weeks of setting up a committee to address the challenge, the first set of disbursements was made for those people that had no issues.

He said that shortly after, another set of disbursements were made, adding that “what is remaining is just a very negligible number which we are still working out and will soon resolve,” he said.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that the Chairman Governing Board of the NDDC, Sen. Victor Ndoma-Egba, has expressed the willingness of the commission to support universities in the region.

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