•NDDC headquarters in Port Harcourt, Rivers State
After an intense and rigorous selection process largely driven by technology, the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) has awarded scholarships to 200 successful candidates from the region to pursue Master’s Degrees overseas.
The NDDC Foreign Postgraduate Scholarship programme which started in 2010 is designed to produce top level professionals with technical knowledge, capacity and expertise to compete in the oil and gas industry, as well as other sectors, reports Channels TV.
For this year, over 20,000 applications were received out of which 5,000 were selected for a Computer Based Test conducted last month. The number was further trimmed down to 1,500 who were orally interviewed by panels of academia.
According to the Director, Education, Health and Social Services at the NDDC, George Uzonwanne, the selection process was done transparently.
“Most of these people never knew anyone from the NDDC or anyone that works here, they applied by themselves, they created their platforms. Some of them, not these ones but some people did upload fake documents. Out of those 20,000 we pruned it down to 5000 that wrote the CBTs and were given their scores immediately,” Uzonwanne said.
The NDDC is leaving nothing to chance in ensuring that this scholarship programme meets its set objective of increasing human capital development in the Niger Delta. Part of such steps includes adequate provision for fees and stipends according to the Managing Director of the NDDC, Samuel Ogbuku.
“We have heard of cases where sometimes due to some logistic delays you people come together to see how you can also form some sort of pressure group. I want to assure you that you might not have cause for that again because we ourselves are parents and we know what it is to send you to a foreign land and keep you stranded.
“It is not the intention of the board and management of NDDC to send you abroad and keep you stranded. We will try our best to see that whenever it is time to pay your fees we will do that,” Ogbuku said.
For the Chairman, NDDC Governing Board, Mr Chiedu Ebie, the transparency in the scholarship selection process is commendable even as he advises the beneficiaries to make the best use of the opportunity.
“We are commending the MD and the management of NDDC for sustaining this process and not just for sustaining it but also for ensuring that it is as transparent as possible and that it is merit-based,” Ebie said.
So far, the NDDC has sponsored 2,708 scholars at both Masters and Ph.D. levels since the inception of the programme in 2010. And for the 2023/2024 edition, the Commission is promising Ph.D scholarship for any of these 200 recipients who gets Distinction.
