President Muhammadu Buhari has ordered the Niger Delta Development Commission to pay the fees and upkeep allowances for students studying abroad on its scholarship, but are now stranded due to the delay in the payment of their fees, the commission has said.
NDDC Director, Corporate Affairs, Charles Odili, in a statement announced that Buhari gave the order to the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Godswill Akpabio, following reports about protests by the students.
The stranded students have carried out protests at the Nigerian High Commission in London.
Odili said in the statement the students would be paid by the end of this week. He said the delay in the payment was due to the sudden death of Chief Ibanga Etang, former Acting Executive Director, Finance and Administration, EDFA, of the Commission in May
“Under the Commission’s finance protocol, only the Executive Director (Finance) and the Executive Director (Projects) can sign for the release of funds from the Commission’s domiciliary accounts with the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN.
“With the death of Chief Etang, the remittance has to await the appointment of a new EDFA. Senator Akpabio, the Honourable Minister, said President Buhari who has been briefed on the protest by students at the Nigerian High Commission in London, has ordered that all stops be pulled to pay the students by the end of this week. We expect a new EDFA to be appointed this week. As soon as that is done, they would all be paid,” Odili said.
Odili further announced that the commission had invited the President to inaugurate the 29-kilometre Ogbia-Nembe Road in Bayelsa State, which he said NDDC built in conjunction with the Shell Petroleum Development Company to create a land link to the ancient city of Nembe for the first time.
He said the road project cost N24 billion, and cuts through swampy terrain to connect 14 other communities. He said the road needed 10 bridges and 99 culverts.
