The Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) has granted postgraduate scholarships to 200 students hailing from the Niger Delta region, enabling them to pursue advanced studies abroad.
George Uzonwanne, the Director of Education, Health, and Social Services at NDDC, affirmed that the scholarship awarding process was conducted with transparency and diligence.
Uzonwanne emphasized the openness of the selection process, stating that the 200 awardees were chosen from a pool of over 20,000 applicants.
He said: “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 did upload fake documents. Out of those 20,000, we pruned it down to 5,000 that wrote the CBTs and they were given their scores immediately.”
Chiedu Ebie, Chairman of the NDDC Governing Board, praised the management of NDDC for upholding a transparent and merit-based selection process.
He urged the scholarship recipients to make the most of this opportunity and not squander the chance presented to them.
“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.
The NDDC Foreign Postgraduate Scholarship Program was initiated in 2010 and has supported over 2,500 beneficiaries to date.
