By Kolawole Ojebisi
The fallout of the alleged financial malfeasance rocking the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) may have started taking its toll on most of the students on the scholarship scheme of the commission.
According to the Chairman, Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM), Mrs. Abike Dabiri-Erewa, most of the students, who are beneficiaries of NDDC’s scholarship scheme have reportedly become beggars.
Dabiri-Erewa, has appealed to NDDC to pay the allowances, tuition and other incentives of students on its scholarship scheme in the United Kingdom.
She said the students had turned beggars following the non-payment of their tuition and allowances by the NDDC.
Some of the affected students had lamented the failure of the commission to fulfil its part of scheme by releasing funds for their education in foreign land adding that they had been suspended by their schools for non-payment of tuition and other fees.
Dabiri-Erewa in a statement on Tuesday by Mr. Gabriel Odu of the NiDCOM Media, Public Relations and Protocol Unit, made reference to a letter written to the Minister of the Niger Delta, Sen. Godswill Akpabio, dated June 18, 2020, drawing attention to the plight of the students, and urging the NDDC to pay them.
The statement read, “At the moment, there have been persistent calls by the students for urgent intervention.
“While the deadline for payment of the fees of some of the students has expired or about to expire, non-payment of their allowances has virtually turned many of them to beggars.”
