17 March 2017 Mkpoikana Udoma, Sweetcrude, Port Harcourt – Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, Mr. Nsima Ekere, has directed the immediate payment of all outstanding scholarship fees to beneficiaries of the 2016 NDDC Overseas Post Graduate Scholarship.
Ekere expressed dissatisfaction that beneficiaries of the scheme were facing hardship due to delays in remitting both the tuition fees and upkeep allowances, and called on them to submit their bank details to the NDDC immediately.
A statement by the Head, Corporate Affairs Department of NDDC, Mr. Chijioke Amu-Nnadi, said the Managing Director disclosed that only 32 out of 200 beneficiaries have so far submitted their personal international bank information and promised to pay them immediately.
“I am very unhappy about this needless delays and the untold hardship our scholars are going through right now; This is not acceptable. They are our children. They represent the future manpower and professionals that we are building to help transform the Niger Delta region and we cannot afford to allow them go through this kind of suffering,” he said.
The statement declared that the new Governing Board and Management were determined to improve all governance, project and programme implementation protocols within the Commission and reaffirmed “the commitment to doing what is right and proper at all times.”