The Chairman of the Governing Board of the Niger Delta Development Commission, Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba, has expressed deep relief and satisfaction over the clearing of all backlogs of NDDC foreign scholarship programme owed since 2012.
The current NDDC Board and Management on inception of their tenure in November 2017 inherited backlogs of unpaid foreign scholarships amounting to over $2 million.
This left hundreds of Niger Delta students stranded abroad as a result of non-payment of their upkeep and tuition fees.
This situation has been very thorny, generating negative and disturbing reactions for the Commission.
You may recall that at the last Board meeting for the year 2017, held in Abuja on December 7, 2017, the Chairman disclosed to journalist the approval and deep commitment of the Board to clear all backlogs and all issues surrounding the highly contentious foreign scholarship programme.
Ndoma-Egba promised then: “By Tuesday next week, all outstanding issues regarding the foreign scholarship scheme would have been sorted out.”
True to this promise, the NDDC has cleared all backlogs on the foreign scholarship owed to beneficiaries from 2012 to 2017.
Ndoma-Egba said: “Over $2 million was disbursed in December to beneficiaries of this programme.
“We believe this action will ameliorate all issues surrounding the scholarship scheme.”
In a statement released by the SA Communications to the Chairman of NDDC, Clara Braide, on this development, Ndoma-Egba said: “It is a huge relief that the issues surrounding our foreign scholarship backlogs have finally been sorted out.
“Going forward, we can now begin to focus on new entries and deploy more coordinated, seamless and sustainable ways of granting and disbursing our scholarships to avoid a repeat of past shortcomings.”
In attestation to this fact, messages are pouring in from beneficiaries through the NDDC’s social media platforms expressing great relief and appreciation for the intervention.
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