Metro
Beset by mounting backlog of allowances, FG suspends NDDC scholarship
The Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Usani Usani, has ordered the immediate suspension of the Niger Delta Development Commission’s scholarship programme.
With the development, the NDDC would not offer any new scholarships until the commission cleared the backlog of payments meant for the old batch of beneficiaries, the Ministry of Niger Delta said Wednesday via Twitter.
This follows widespread protests by several post-graduate Nigerian students abroad who said that the NDDC had refused to fund the scholarship scheme, forcing them into hardship abroad.
Read also: How Boko Haram killed eight soldiers in Yobe
Those affected are said to include fifteen Master’s degree students and forty Ph.D. students.
Some of the Ph.D. students had not received money meant for their tuition and upkeep for more than one year now.
The NDDC international scholarship is worth about $30,000 annually.
Those enrolled in Masters’ degree programmes are expected to spend one year, while the Ph.D. is expected to last for three years.
A few days ago, some of the Ph.D. students protested at the Nigeria High Commission in London.
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