Suspecting Fraud, NDDC Begins Verification Of UK Scholarship Beneficiaries |The Source

By Akinwale Kasali

The Management of the scandal-Prone Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, has announced the commencement of verification exercise on its Scholarship Scheme Beneficiaries.

NDDC said it was necessary to make clarifications following the recent protest by some students, who claimed to be beneficiaries of the Commission’s 2018 scholarship programme, at the Nigerian Embassy in London, United Kingdom.

According to Charles  Odili, NDDC Director, Corporate Affairs, “We observe that the students were driven by mischief, otherwise they had the opportunity to present their case to the NDDC Acting Executive Director Projects, EDP, Dr. Cairo Ojougboh, who was in London on Thursday, September 17, 2020, with relevant officers of the Commission, to carry out physical verification of legitimate students on the scholarship programme.

“The NDDC team was scheduled to verify the unexplained discrepancies in the Commission’s foreign postgraduate scholarship programme, and ascertain the true beneficiaries. Their brief include visiting the universities where the students are enrolled for various post-graduate degree programmes.

“Recall that recently, the NDDC Interim Management Committee, IMC, released $5,910,000 million through the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, to offset all the verified outstanding foreign scholarship obligations, despite the non-passage of NDDC 2020 budget by the National Assembly.

“Curiously, after this payment, a demand for an additional payment of $3million (Three Million Dollars) surfaced, with the claim that some students were not captured. This inexplicable increase made it imperative to verify and authenticate the real beneficiaries of the scholarship programme which started in 2010.

“We call attention to the fact that since the establishment of the IMC, no scholarship has been awarded. So why are we being blackmailed to make these additional payments, without verification?

“The NDDC is committed to the Post Graduate Foreign scholarship Scheme, recognizing that it represents the future manpower and professionals that we are building to help transform the Niger Delta region.

“We have always said that beyond physical infrastructure, the NDDC, as an interventionist agency, has a duty to also develop the human capital that will ensure sustainable livelihoods to the people of the Niger Delta region.

“We, therefore, urge our scholars not to allow themselves to be used as tools by those sponsoring devious campaigns to discredit the on-going forensic audit ordered by President Muhammadu Buhari. As should be expected, the verification of NDDC projects and programmes will not leave out the Foreign Postgraduate Scholarship”.

It would be recalled that the students protested at the Nigeria Embassy in London, to the embarrassment of President Muhammadu Buhari over the national disgrace it caused the nation.

He ordered the immediate payment of the Students’ tuition fees and upkeep allowances..