NDDC scholarship students wey di Nigeria commission send go UK say di commission abandon dem
Nigerian students wey dey study for United Kingdom wit scholarship of Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) say di commission never pay dem dia school fees or accommodation despite promises wey dem give dem.
Olukayode Olugbemi and Samuel Danor say NDDC never pay dia school fees despite plenty promises Di students wey follow BBC Pidgin tok say many of dia students don dey hustle jobs just say dia schools no go chase dem from class. One of di affected students na Olukayode Olugbemi. Im tell BBC say, dem neva see any money from NDDC for seven months now. "After we get scholarship for July 2019, dem suppose pay students N500,000 for visa but dem no pay us until April, 2020, wen we start to dey talk for social media" Olugbemi tok. "NDDC neva pay us di 30,000 USD wey bi for di scholarship wey suppose cover our school fees and accommodation. Some students don dey UK since September [2019], while some enter for January [2020]… about seven to eleven months don pass wey dem neva pay our school fees. "NDDC no dey respond to email from our schools, and di schools don tire. Dem don start to dey put di school fees as debt ontop students head". 'Our student don catch Covid-19' Two of di students wey tok to BBC Pidgin say one of di scholars catch coronavirus sake of say im dey do odd job just too. Ukwuegbu Chijioke tell BBC pidgin say "we also dey do odd jobs for factories and care homes. In fact, one of us get Covid-19 wia dem dey work. Anoda student, Samuel Danor say im start do dey work for care home wey dey expose am to di virus so dat e go fit get money for am to pay for tins. "I no get choice dan to do wetin I dey do now. I dey do di job to pay my bills. Wen coronavirus break, I need to find anoda job to pay school fees as my school don dey threaten me. I no get money to pay accommodation or even to eat. I start to dey work for care home despite coronavirus and high number for care homes. "I don expose mysef to coronavirus in plenty ways. I no know say na like dis e go be wit scholarship wit NDDC. I no know say dem go abandon us like dis. As I dey speak, I don do Covid-19 test three times sake of say I don dey contact wit pipo wey get coronavirus. I dey do test every week for di place I dey work". Olugbemi add say na lie goment dey tell say dem dey take care of students. He even say di commission no check on dem even as di world dey battle coronavirus. 'Na coronavirus cause am' Tok tok pesin for NDDC, Charles Odili tell BBC say di coronavirus pandemic and lockdown dey create problem for di commission to meet dia obligation. Dis plus di current probe by di National Assembly never give di commission enough time.Odili say di processes for payment of dia scholarship money don go far and di students go smile very soon. Di NDDC Foreign Scholarship for Post graduate studies start for 2010 as part of di Human Resource Development plan NDDC to equip youths of Niger Delta with better training and skills so dem fit participate for local content program of goment and compete globally for various professional fields.Di scholarship suppose give US$30,000 dollars to successful students for mainly science and engineering programs for di Masters and PhD level for students wey don already get admission for universities overseas and e dey cover full school fees, accommodation, travel fare and oda expenses. Di NDDC dey presently face plenti palava from di forensic audit of how di commission don spend money wey President Buhari order to di probe wey di National Assemble dey take chook eye for how di Interim management committe of di Commission don spend N40billion between October 2019 and May 2020.