Chairman, Benue State Scholarship Board Chief Joseph Nyam, said that the board has concluded necessary arrangements to disburse N150 million to 6,068 Benue indigenes studying across Nigerian universities.
Chief Nyam, who announced this during a briefing at the board premises in Makurdi, noted that the disbursement had taken effect from Monday.
He said government had again approved 100 per cent increase of the scholarship allowances which was already factored into the current disbursement.
According to Nyam, students whose allowances are hitherto pegged at N5,000 only, would now have additional N5000, adding that the payment of N200,000 to law students is ongoing and would soon be completed.
He lamented that students of Benue origin schooling in various tertiary institutions across Nigeria, have not received scholarship allowances for the past seven years.
Nyam revealed that the Benue State Scholarship Board had existed without a constituted board for over 20 years slowing down its activities. He,therefore, praised Ortom for reconstituting the board and providing same enough funds to enhance its functionality.
“At the inauguration of the board by the governor, we met a moribund structure and a highly dispirited workforce. It appears that everything was long forgotten and abandoned. For example the pittance called scholarship allowances were also not paid to students for a long time.
“The members of staff were idle and disillusioned. Today, however, the ugly situation has been reversed and by my estimation, Benue will soon post the best scholarship regime in the country”.
Executive secretary of the board, Dr. Isaac Igbe, promised to eliminate all bureaucratic bottlenecks confronting the board.
On his part, National President of National Union of Benue State Students(NUBESS), Comrade Pillah Roman, thanked the government for the gesture, promising that they would conduct themselves in orderly manner to ensure the money is judiciously disbursed to members.
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