Indications are rife that the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) would pay beneficiaries of its scholarship this week.
This follows President Muhammadu Buhari’s order that the NDDC should pay beneficiaries of its scholarship studying abroad.
The students, who got a scholarship from the commission, cried out online and accused the NDDC of abandoning them, forcing them to take on menial jobs to survive.
A statement signed by the NDDC Director, Corporate Affairs, Charles Odili, said Buhari conveyed the directive to the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio, following the students’ protest.
Odili said the students would be paid by the end of the week, explaining that the delay was caused by the sudden death of Chief Ibanga Etang, the then Acting Executive Director, Finance and Administration, EDFA, of the Commission in May.
According to him, “Under the Commission’s finance protocol, only the Executive Director (Finance) and the Executive Director (Projects) can sign for the release of funds from the Commission’s domiciliary accounts with the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN.”
He said President Buhari who has been briefed on the protest by students at the Nigerian High Commission in London, has ordered that all stops be pulled to pay the students by the end of this week. We expect a new EDFA to be appointed this week. As soon as that is done, they would all be paid.”
