NDDC Says Undergraduates Will Now Benefit From Scholarship Scheme

The Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) has revealed plans extend, as well as include undergraduates in its 8-year-old Foreign Post Graduate Scholarship Programme.

The NDDC Managing Director, Mr Nsima Ekere, announced this on Wednesday during the flag off of the donation of 9,600 desks and 9,600 chairs to public schools in Akwa Ibom State at the NDDC state office in Uyo.

He explained that the exercise would entail the distribution of 72,000 desks and 72,000 chairs to schools in the nine mandate states of the Commission.

Speaking on the scholarship scheme, Ekere said that the NDDC had been investing massively in scholarship programmes for students seeking post graduate studies in schools all over the world.

He, however, said that NDDC was now considering also intervening in under-graduate studies.

“We are still discussing and considering the need to intervene in the under-graduate studies, because there are some students that are intellectually alert and smart but they may not have the opportunity to benefit from the under-graduate education,” he said.

Ekere gave the assurance that the processes for the selection of graduates for the foreign scholarship programme would start early in the year, to ensure that the beneficiaries are not delayed for the next academic year.

He said: “We shall ensure that by May, all the processes required to be done to get our children ready to start the next academic year are concluded in good time.”

Furthermore, the NDDC boss decried the poor state of schools in the region, noting that the commission has done so much and is still taking steps to bring an end to the situation.

“In some cases, the environment under which our children learn is very appalling and far from adequate. Some of the school blocks have no roofs and you see children learning under trees,” he lamented.

“In year 2017, we did a lot of interventions across the region, renovating secondary and primary schools. In Akwa Ibom state, a total of 115 schools were positively impacted in the renovation exercise that NDDC carried out.

“The NDDC state office in consultation with relevant stakeholders, and of course the Akwa Ibom state Ministry of Education will agree on a sharing formula and ensure that the desks and chairs are given to the schools that most need this intervention,” he stated.