NDDC adopts local content in renewed scholarship scheme

The Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) says its suspended scholarship scheme is being reviewed to achieve a more positive impact, adding that the commission would no longer waste its scarce resources to send students abroad to study courses available in the country.

Speaking during an occasion to mark the International Youth Day 2021, the Interim Administrator, NDDC, Effiong Akwa, who was represented by his Special Adviser on Youths and Sports, Udengs Eradiri, said the commission would rather spend its resources upgrading schools in the country especially in the region to absorb its scholarship students.

He said that as part of the review, only students interested in special courses not offered in Nigerian schools would be sent abroad for studies, explaining that the commission was making efforts to create a conducive environment for the youths to actualize their potentials.

Akwa said: “We are reviewing the scholarship scheme. We are trying to reach out to schools in the Niger Delta. We want to go into partnership with these schools, upgrade their facilities to international standards.

“These schools will affiliate with NDDC and will run their programmes seamlessly. Only students for special courses not available in Nigerian schools will be sent abroad for studies.”

Akwa also revealed that, as part of the International Youths Day, the commission has distributed e-learning devices to secondary school students, undergraduates and other youths in the Niger Delta to facilitate their access to knowledge.

The Interim Administrator who distributed the devices appealed to the youths to shun drugs, cultism and social vices while identifying drugs, cultism and social vices as the tripod of evil threatening to wipe out the youths in the country

Akwa told the stakeholders that the NDDC under the supervision of the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio, was being repositioned to achieve its original mandate.

He said recommendations contained in the submitted forensic audit report of the commission were undergoing the required process for their implementation.

“We will soon have the reorganised NDDC,” Akwa said adding that the commission was working on various skill acquisition programmes, talent hunt and sports fiesta to positively engage the youths.

The Lead Speaker at the event and Chairman of the Nigerian Young Professionals Forum (NYPF), Moses Siloko Siasia, commended NDDC for the programme and shared the experience of how he rose to become a successful entrepreneur lamenting that drugs were wiping out the generation of young people in the country.

Siasia, who is the Chief Executive Officer, Mosilo Group, said following the death of his father, he hawked various items, planted flowers for people and resisted temptations to engage in illicit drugs while fighting his way to the top.

Advising the youths, he said: “I had a choice to go into drugs when I lost my father and I saw poverty. Drug abuse and cultism are wiping out our generation. Young people are addicted to drugs. Some are joining cults others have made up their minds to engage in productive ventures. Life is about choices.

“The choice I made many years ago has brought me where I am. I have never tested drugs. I have never joined cultism but today I am being celebrated because I remained focused. Read the stories of the richest men in Nigeria. They were not involved in drugs and cultism. You have a choice before you. If you want to take charge of your future.

“You must start small to grow big. People want to be like me but they don’t know about the challenges I have gone through.

The Commissioner for International Relations, Cross River, Inyang Asibong, while lauding NDDC for the programme called for creating more awareness and mentorship to prevent youths from engaging in social vices.

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