Femi Folaranmi, Yenagoa
President Muhammadu Buhari has ordered the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) to pay beneficiaries of scholarship by the end of the week.
Charles Odili, NDDC director of corporate affairs, broke the news after delivering management’s invitation to the president to inaugurate the 29-kilometre Ogbia-Nembe Road in Bayelsa State.
The beneficiaries of the commission’s scholarship in the United Kingdom protested over the non-payment of their tuition fees on Monday.
The students converged on the Nigerian High Commission in London to express displeasure over “negligence of their welfare.”
In a statement, Odili said scholars of the commission “who are facing hardships abroad” because of the non-remittance of their fees and stipends would be paid by the end of the week following the order of Buhari.
He said the delay in the remittance of the fees was caused by the sudden death of Ibanga Etang, NDDC former acting executive director, finance and administration, in May.
“Under the commission’s finance protocol, only the executive director (finance) and the executive director (projects) can sign for the release of funds from the commission’s domiciliary accounts with the Central Bank of Nigeria,” he said.
“With the death of Chief Etang, the remittance has to await the appointment of a new EDFA.
“Senator Akpabio, the Honourable Minister, said President Buhari who has been briefed on the protest by students at the Nigerian High Commission in London, has ordered that all stops be pulled to pay the students by the end of this week. We expect a new EDFA to be appointed this week. As soon as that is done, they would all be paid.”
On the list of NDDC contracts handled by members of the national assembly, Odili said the one submitted by Akpabio was not compiled by the minister but came from the files in the commission.
In a related development, the Ijaw Youths Council (IYC) Worldwide has warned of growing tension in the Niger Delta region over the delay in the payment of students.
He warned that the region risked fresh threat of hostilities that could disrupt the fragile peace in the region if the issue was not addressed urgently.
President of IYC, Peter Igbifa, who stated this yesterday, described the conditions of the affected students in abroad as pitiable and unacceptable.
Igbifa stated that it was saddening to IYC seeing their kinsmen carrying placards abroad to protest their neglect by the NDDC and the Federal Government while huge resources belonging to their region were being diverted and squandered on frivolous activities.
He expressed dismay that sensitive issues affecting the region were not given the required swift attention by the responsible authorities despite the huge revenue accruing to the country from the Niger Delta.
Igbifa called on President Buhari, the National Security Adviser (NSA) and the security chiefs to treat the issues of the abandoned Niger Delta students abroad as a matter of national emergency.
“There is a limit to which I can hold them back. If something drastic and urgent is not done to settle the financial obligations of these scholars, I am afraid, the temper will boil over and anything can happen.
“This is not the time to shift blames. The youths in the region are already angry and they don’t want to listen to any blame games. They don’t want the Federal Government to blame the NDDC and they don’t want the NDDC to blame the National Assembly or the coronavirus pandemic. What they are expecting is an end to this shame.”