President Muhammadu Buhari has ordered the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), to pay its scholarship beneficiaries abroad.
Contained in a statement titled “NDDC invites President Buhari to Commission Signature Project”, and signed by the NDDC Director, Corporate Affairs, Charles Odili, he said that Buhari gave the directive to the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio.
This is coming barely 24 hours after the abandoned students protested their grievances and alleged abandonment by the NDDC, at the Nigeria High Commission Office in London.
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According to the grieved scholars, the NDDC had stopped paying their stipends and tuition.
However, the NDDC Director of Corporate Affairs, Charles Odili explained that scholars of the commission abroad were facing hardships due to the non remittance of their stipends and fees, but would be paid before the week runs out.
According to Odili, the delay in the stipends and fees remittance was caused by the sudden death of Chief Ibanga Etang, the then acting Executive Director of Finance and Administration (EDFA), in May, 2020.
The statement quoting Odili as saying reads in part;
“With the death of Chief Etang, the remittance has to await the appointment of a new EDFA.
“Senator Akpabio, the Honourable Minister, 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.” (Culled from PUNCH)
