The management of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) has proffered reasons for the delay in payment of foreign scholarships.
The NDDC, in a statement issued by its Director of Corporate Affairs, Charles Obi Odili, on Tuesday, attributed the delay to some factors beyond its control.
The Executive Director of Projects, NDDC, Cairo Ojougboh, at a meeting with representatives of the scholars in the United Kingdom, identified the fight by those opposed to the forensic audit of the commission as one of the factors for the delay.
Ojougboh said the the NDDC’s interim management committee was distracted by the fight from working for at least two months.
“The sudden death in May, this year, of the then Executive Director, Finance and Administration, Chief Ibanga Etang, also contributed to the delay in payments as the commission needed to wait for a replacement to be able to access its funds in its domiciliary account at the Central Bank of Nigeria, (CBN),” executive director said.
He added that the NDDC management has set up a verification exercise which involves the registration of all scholars on a new custom built portal to confirm claims with the universities of study and pay all outstanding foreign scholarship claims within the next few weeks.
Ojougboh confirmed that the Commission decided to verify the scholarship awards because of obvious discrepancies and that 50 of the scholarships awarded in 2019 did not leave Nigeria for their studies in the UK.
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