Scholarship: Delta Government Releases N110 Million To Foreign Students

The Delta State government said it has released N110 million as scholarship to offset monies owed students of the state origin who are still studying abroad while the payment of scholarship to students studying in the country has been very regular.

The Executive Secretary, Delta State Bursary and Scholarship Board, Comrade Elijah Ologe, gave the revelation Friday while addressing journalists in his office, noting that the 2017/2018 bursary registration for students of the state origin studying in the country is currently on.

According to him, “one of the criteria for enrolling into the scholarship scheme, students must meet up the 2.2 CGP, register with the National Identification Number Commission (NIMC) and must have the Bank Verification Number (BVN). Although, we still go for physical verification”, he disclosed.

He also pointed out that the payment of scholarships to children of deceased civil servants and the physical challenged which was stopped at a time due to the economic situation that bedeviled the country has started.

“As I speak with you now, the approval for us to pay students studying in the country, children of deceased civil servants and the physically challenged has been granted”.

The Executive Secretary said while the government relaxes on some scholarship activities, “but we paid our internal scholarship and law students”, he insisted.

He said the board is currently waiting for the scholarship for the physically challenged and children of deceased civil servants.

Responding to a question on why students protested to the board recently, Ologe noted “there was delay in payment and some were not being credited”, adding that students who use their relatives or friends accounts details was a major cause just as he stressed that those whom the banks returned their monies, it would take some time to attend to all of them.

He however said that the Board has insisted that students must have their personal account details for them to enroll into the scheme.

While advising students to be studios; abhor all form of academic vises and respond to the various windows made available by the state government, he said the task of reaching out to students from the about 100 universities in the country was enormous even as he lamented the road hazards associated with travelling by some of his staff to reach out to the students “especially schools in the north”.

He commended the state governor, Ifeanyi Okowa for the prompt payment of scholarships to students.