The Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) has guaranteed that it would not neglect the beneficiaries of its foreign scholarship programme in the United Kingdom and Canada.
The Acting Managing Director of the commission, Prof. Keme Pondei, disclosed that NDDC would meet all its financial obligations to the beneficiaries.
A statement authorized by the commission’s Director, Public Affairs, Charles Odili Pondei, who revealed this in Port Harcourt, stressed that all individuals that have been awarded scholarships by the commission should not panic.
Ponder further revealed that, once the outstanding fees are settled, the commission would embark on fresh recruitment adding that the programme had not been suspended.
The statement reads;
“We are obliged to meet all the terms of the scholarship because we cannot send people out of the country and not pay their fees".
“We are doing everything possible to make sure that the beneficiaries of the post graduate scholarship progamme are paid. We have had meetings in the past two days, specifically on the matter of the scholars, to see how their problems can be alleviated".
“It is a very difficult situation and I have been in that situation before. So, I know what it means to be hounded by the universities for fees and for you not to have living allowance to feed properly and pay your rents.”
“We might not be able to calculate the gains of the programme directly, but everybody who has gone and brought back to this country even a little change would have made an impact. Such programmes should be encouraged, while we tone down on the ones that have been abused, especially emergency projects".
“We should dwell on the positives and not be distracted by the negatives, so that we can deliver on our mandate to the people of the Niger Delta region.”
It should be noted that, the foreign scholarship scheme started in 2010, with the objectives to bridge the gap in the management cadre of the oil and gas sector through human capital development.