The resucitation of the scholarship scheme of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) has signaled the readiness of the Commission to adequately prepare youths of the region for sustainable development of the region and to champion for regional industrialization.
According to a statement signed by management of the Commission, the Foreign Post Graduate Scholarship Programme is aimed at equipping Niger Deltans with relevant training and skills for effective participation in the local content programme of the President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.
The Commission further indicated that the scheme, which has trained about 2000 youths in the last 12 years, is also aimed at preparing the Niger Delta youths to compete globally in various professional disciplines.
Criteria for participating in the scheme, the statement states, include first Degree with minimum of 2nd Class-Lower division for those wishing to undertake a Master’s Programme, completion of the mandatory National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) and hailing from the Niger Delta region, especially the oil-rich communities.
Also, applicants, the statement further explains, must have gained admission for a Post Graduate Programme in Agricultural Sciences, Engineering, Environmental Sciences, Geosciences, Information Technology, Law, Management Sciences, Medicine, Architecture, or Hospitality Management in a Foreign University.
The Commission warns that people with history of cultism are not eligible to participate in the programme.
In the current arrangement as supervised by the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs (MNDA), the Scheme will incorporate scholarships tenable in Nigerian and foreign universities as opposed to the previous arrangement where the scholarships were only tenable abroad.
This new arrangement has advantages for the youths of the region. Firstly, it will afford brilliant but financially challenged youths the opportunity to further their education. They don’t need to worry about acquiring passports, visas and others essentials to enjoy the scholarship. Secondly, given the fire need of Nigerian tertiary institutions for infrastructural development, this offers opportunity for NDDC to invest in these institutions that will in turn afford quality trainings in specialized courses.
Most especially, the scheme will provide ample opportunity to equip the Niger Delta youths with requisite knowledge and skills that will enable them participate in the.actualization of the local content policy of the nation’s oil industry.