Nigerian govt has abandoned us, NDDC scholarship beneficiaries

Some beneficiaries of the scholarship scheme put in place by the Nigerian government through the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, have alleged that the commission has abandoned them.
The scholars who craved anonymity, said they had been subjected to unfair and inhuman treatment by the commission since 2016.
The affected beneficiaries are Masters and PhD students of Niger Delta origin who won the scholarship awards in 2014 and 2015. They alleged that their ordeals started when the leadership of the current NDDC board assumed office in November 2016.
The NDDC is an interventionist agency that was set up to improve the welfare of the people of the oil rich Niger Delta region. As part of its mandate, the NDDC scholarship scheme was set up to improve the manpower capacity of Niger Delta youth by sponsoring them for Masters and PhD programmes in universities abroad.
The beneficiaries were also carefully positioned to study courses considered to be of developmental benefit to the region; such as Engineering, Law, Environmental Sciences, public Health, ICT among others.
In January 2015, the NDDC advertised for scholarship vacancies in several national dailies and on its website. Successful candidates were consequently issued award letters.
The value of the scholarship, according to the aggrieved scholars, was put at $30,000. A successful scholar on arrival and registration at the foreign university is expected to ask the university to send an invoice for tuition fees to the NDDC via designated email addresses of officials in the education unit.
According to one of the scholars, “After settlement of tuition fees, the balance left (if any) out of the 30,000 USD is paid simultaneously to the scholar’s bank account in the local currency of the scholar’s country of study.