The Board of Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) brings to a closure the controversy over the commission's foreign scholarship scheme by settling fully the backlog of fees, drawing a line on the ugly past of wrongdoing and putting in place a mechanism for a new beginning of doing things right.
By Inemesit Ina
From the outset, when the present board
of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), inaugurated on November 4,
2016, hit the ground running with its change agenda of 4 Rs (restructure the balance
sheet, reform the governance protocols, restore NDDC’s core mandate, and
reaffirm the commission’s collective commitment to do what is right), it was
certain that it was never going to find things easy. Some well-wishers even
pitied the board for what they considered an uphill task if not mission
impossible. The commission did not have an enviable reputation, having long
been dismissed by not a few in the country as a cesspool of corruption,
mismanagement, malpractices and abandoned projects.
One of the areas where change by the new
board was resisted vehemently was the foreign scholarship scheme. The NDDC has
been awarding scholarships to postgraduate students of Niger Delta origin to
study specialized courses in different universities across the world. Over the
years, the process of award and remittance of funds have been less than
transparent, resulting in all manner of malpractices. It led to a situation
where some master's degree students were enjoying scholarship for up to seven
years for a one-year programme as the NDDC Managing Director, Mr. Nsima Ekere,
said on NTA International in a live interview programme, Good Morning Nigeria,
in November, last year. He said the
management was working to completely sanitize the scholarship scheme on case-by-case
basis by ensuring that only genuine students had their fees paid directly to
schools against the old practice where some students on one-year Master’s
degree programmes ended up receiving fees paid into their private accounts for
a period of up to seven years. “A
typical example is someone who registers for a Master’s programme which is
twelve months. But you find out that in year 2017, we are still getting bills
for a student who was given scholarship since 2010," he said.
There were other malpractices as Ekere
explained in another interview with newsmen in his office which was widely
published in different national newspapers four months earlier: "When we
came in, we discovered that there were a lot of discrepancies in the way the
scholarship programme was being administered. These scholarships were for
studies abroad but we found out that monies were paid to people who were still
in Nigeria and we didn’t see why that should happen. In other cases, when
people get admission in certain course, in certain university, they get
approved for the NDDC scholarship and then, along the line, because it is a
fixed amount that is paid to every scholar, they will go to another university
for a different programme from what they got the scholarship for, just because
maybe, the university is cheaper. They will go to another university and in our
record here, you will see that the scholar is possibly in the University of
Aberdeen and meanwhile, we are getting an invoice from a university in Canada
or sometime a university in Ukraine from the same student.
"Then, the course of study, NDDC
has areas that it wants to concentrate on, that it wants to develop manpower
and specialized personnel for, we discovered that some of them have gone for
other courses different from what they were approved for. So, these are some of
the issues that we discovered."
Doing Things Right
The present board set out to reform the
scheme. It started a process of separating the wheat from the chaff. Ekere
again: ''Then, we set up a committee in-house, to look into all these issues
and resolve all these discrepancies and they are trying to resolve them.
Within two weeks of setting up that
committee, the first phase of disbursement was made for those people that have
no issues whatsoever. So, we have made the first releases and they continue
working. Just recently, we made another set of release, which over 80 of the
scholars benefited from them. What is remaining is just a very negligible
number which we are still working on and we intend to resolve. I understand and
sympathise very much with what the scholars are going through, for the genuine
cases. That is why anytime we see a genuine case, not waiting to treat them in
batches, we treat them immediately.
"Okay, we understand what they are
going through but we also seek their understanding because a lot of people have
abused the scholarship scheme of NDDC. A lot of people have defrauded the
government using this NDDC scholarship scheme. Because it is based on foreign
currency, a lot of people want access to foreign currency so they pretend to be
NDDC scholars when sometimes they are not. So, this is the problem we have had
and this is why it has taken time and why some scholars didn’t get their money
on time."
The Managing Director was full of
assurance for the genuine students: "The assurance I want to give to all
genuine NDDC scholars is that they will most definitely receive their due
disbursement. It might take time but we regret the delay and the hardships they
have been occasioned because of the delay. We are doing everything possible to
ensure that we resolve these issues and get the funds to them as soon as
possible."
The award of further foreign
scholarships was even suspended while efforts were being made to cleanse the
Augean stables. But with entrenched interests seeing their sleaze empire
crumble, there was a fight back. The board's explanation that the reform was
actually intended for the good of the present and would-be beneficiaries fell
on deaf ears. The reform was made to look punitive by those interests,
hoodwinking some innocent beneficiaries in the process. Some of the students
repeatedly protested in London, United Kingdom.
Drawing The Line
Apparently worried by the genuine
concerns of some students who were equally affected temporarily by the reform,
the board met in December in Abuja and decided to clear the backlog of fees
from 2012 to 2017 and all issues surrounding its postgraduate foreign
scholarship programme. That same month, that decision was implemented with the
disbursement of over two million US dollars to beneficiaries.
What the board did was simply to draw a
line on the ugly past and set in motion a new beginning where things will be
done right as stated in the last R. The Board Chairman, Senator Victor
Ndoma-Egba, said as much in a statement announcing the happy ending on
Wednesday, last week. His words: "It is a huge relief that the issues
surrounding our foreign scholarship backlogs have finally been sorted out.
Going forward, we can now begin to focus on new entries and deploy more
coordinated, seamless and sustainable ways of granting and disbursing our
scholarships to avoid a repeat of past shortcomings."
Ekere, the Managing Director, hinted in
Uyo on Monday, last week, that the process for the selection of the next set of
beneficiaries would be completed in the next three months. “We shall ensure
that by May, all the processes required to be done to get our children ready to
start the next academic year are concluded in good time,” he said.
Hope For Undergraduate Scholarship
From inception eight years ago, the NDDC
foreign scholarship has been the exclusive preserve of postgraduate students.
But all that may change. There is now hope that undergraduates may be included
in the scheme.
According to Ekere, “We are still
discussing and considering the need to intervene in the undergraduate studies,
because there are some students that are intellectually alert and smart but
they may not have the opportunity to benefit from the undergraduate education.”
Ekere's Long History Of Personal Foreign
Scholarship Scheme
A strong believer in education, Ekere
has ran a personal scholarship scheme for indigent students in Nigerian and
foreign universities for almost two decades even as a private businessman. In a
country where some elected public officers occasionally gather a few students
together before the media and dole out pittance in the name of scholarship when
it should ordinarily be called educational assistance, Ekere's own scholarship
scheme has been total with hundreds, if not thousands, of beneficiaries to
date. Quite unlike a typical Nigerian politician, he chooses to do it quietly,
always in line with Christ's instruction that your left hand must not know what
your right hand does (Matthew 6:3).
This writer ran into one of such
beneficiaries, an old friend, at a fuel station in Uyo in December. "Greet
my oga for me," he said. "You may not know this, he once sponsored my
education in America." This fellow, who is a lawyer and youth activist
from Etoi Clan in Uyo Local Government Area (LGA), added that such exposure and
head start in life spurred him on the academic path so much so that he was now
pursuing his seventh degree, a doctorate, at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka.
The fellow's statement awakened the
journalist in this writer. One was curious to know more. To cut things short,
this fellow simply dashed to his car and brought out a file (apparently, he is
among some persons who carry their documents about) containing copies of his
bachelorate certificate in Political Science/Pre-Law from Ricks College, Idaho,
USA (dated 2002) and statements indicating Ekere's full sponsorship.
What's more, the fellow said Ekere, then
not so much in active politics, sponsored him without ever knowing him. He
narrated how Ekere happened to be in the office of his uncle, then an engineer
with Shell Petroleum Development Company, in Port Harcourt sometime in 2000 and
overheard him lamenting to no avail to his uncle his inability to raise funds
to enroll in the American university. There and then, Ekere offered to help.
The rest is history.
The fellow disclosed that he reminded
Ekere of that gesture at a chance meeting with other youth leaders in Abuja in
2016, 14 years after his graduation. According to him, it took a lot of
explanation for Ekere to remember, probably because he was just one in a crowd
of such beneficiaries.
"I'm still looking for ways to tell
this man thank you," the fellow said as a parting shot. "I owe him
eternal gratitude which I will tell my children and grandchildren."
There was yet another instance in which
this writer was directly involved. In the middle of last year, a female
teenager with admission to study Media and Communication Studies - Women
Studies at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pennsylvania, USA, contacted this
writer through the help of an aide of a key national leader of the Peoples
Democratic Party (PDP) from Akwa Ibom State. An orphan, according to her, she
sounded desperate but determined. At her age, she had already accomplished
much, being an African Union Ambassador, award-winning writer, entrepreneur and
girl's right activist. She had been active in Nigerian literary circles, a fact
confirmed by one NDDC Deputy Director, himself a renowned poet and journalist,
who recognized her during her visit to the NDDC Headquarters in Port Harcourt.
The teenager wanted this writer to help
her secure NDDC scholarship. But as pathetic as her case was, this writer could
not help. She was told that the NDDC only sponsors postgraduate, not
undergraduate, students abroad through a rigorous process.
A very strong-willed and single-minded
person despite her age, she wouldn't give up. "But I learnt that the MD
has been sponsoring people long before now on his own," she replied.
"Please help me. I don't want to miss this admission."
This writer was taken aback seeing her
faith. Not wanting to be a killjoy, this writer approached Ekere one Sunday
afternoon to present her case. All her details were given with nothing held
back, not even where she was coming from politically. The only missing detail
was her LGA of origin which Ekere, characteristically, did not bother to ask
and which this writer has not found out till date. For a man who does not play
politics with education or development, it was immaterial to Ekere where she
came from politically or ethnically. "Tell her to see me in the office
tomorrow," he directed.
The teenager was promptly informed.
Pronto, she left her base in Lagos for Port Harcourt, arriving at the NDDC
Headquarters as early as 8 am. Eventually, she was ushered into the Managing
Director's office amidst a few other persons already inside. She had hardly
finished explaining herself when Ekere cut in, "I will sponsor you."
She was ecstatic. Outside the Managing Director's office, she knelt down in
tears to thank God.
That was in June. Like play, like play
(as Sir Wilker Jackson, the popular Uyo musician and youth leader, would sing),
she started school in the USA two months later. Her joy knew no bounds. "I
am living my dream," she wrote in a message to this writer. "God will
always bless Obong Nsima Ekere and you for helping me to live my dream."
Ekere had only seen her once and very
briefly before granting her scholarship. It is doubtful if he can pick her out
in a crowd. Reason? Many more like her have benefited from his scholarship
scheme over the years both in Nigeria and abroad, especially in Southern
American states as Georgia, Texas and Florida.
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