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The Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) has concluded plans to resume its post-graduate foreign scholarship to qualified indigenes of the Niger Delta region.
This follows the approval by the Governing Board and Management for the commencement of the 2018 award process, after a restructuring process.
The commission, while announcing the resumption of the scholarship scheme, regretted the cancellation of the inconclusive 2017 award process, noting the inconveniences suffered by students who applied for the scholarship.
A statement issued by Ibitoye Abosede, Director, Corporate Affairs of the commission said that in order to provide a fresh start and a seamless process, “all outstanding tuition for recipients of the scholarship has been cleared, as part of the restructuring instituted by Management, and calls for new applications from qualified candidates for the 2018 programme.” The statement however added that “any student who has proof that he has not been paid should feel free to contact the Commission immediately.”
It said the advertisement for the new programme will be published in national media, as well as the NDDC website.
Established in 2010, the NDDC post-graduate foreign scholarship is designed to produce top level professionals with technical manpower, capacity and expertise who would compete in the oil and gas industry and other sectors of the Niger Delta region.
Worth about $30,000 per annum, the programme’s objective is to help build a knowledge-based economy that will meet the challenges of globalisation. It covers nine professional disciplines such as engineering, medical sciences, computer science technology, geosciences, environmental sciences, agriculture, environment/oil and gas law, as well as project management.
Altogether, 1,409 students have benefited from the programme, including Charles Igwe, whose unique redesign of the Turcot Interchange road, as a Ph.D student of Construction Engineering at Concordia University, Canada, helped save the Montreal Area Municipality over $1 billion, and Mr Ubong Peters, who won a global three-minute thesis competition.