The University of Coventry in the United Kingdom will next month sign a
memorandum of understanding with the Niger Delta Development Commission,
NDDC, to boost education in the Niger Delta region.
Speaking at the Port Harcourt International Airport, shortly on arrival
from a five-day working visit to some universities in the United Kingdom,
the NDDC Acting Managing Director, Prof. Nelson Brambaifa, said the
Commission had reached some landmark agreements in the area of human
capital development.
He said that there was an urgent need to resolve all outstanding issues
with the NDDC-sponsored post graduate students and their host institutions,
adding that “it became expedient because we realized that most of the
schools have not been paid. We needed to address some of the issues that
border on our relationship with the schools, as well as the students.
Prof. Brambaifa, who led the NDDC delegation which included the Acting
Executive Director, Finance and Administration, Dr Chris Amadi, and other
directors of the Commission, said the visit was an opportunity to deepen
the existing relationships with foreign universities and take advantage of
other mutually beneficial programmes.
The NDDC Chief Executive Officer said that the team visited the scholars
benefiting from the Commission’s Foreign Post Graduate Scholarship Scheme
in the University of Coventry, University of Derby, University of Salford,
University of Birmingham, University of Hertfordshire and University of
Huddersfield.
He stated that the Commission was very serious with its human capacity
building programmes, noting that it had reached an agreement that would
allow some of the lecturers from the UK universities to come to
universities in the Niger Delta region on exchange programme.
Also speaking at the airport, the Acting Executive Director, Finance and
Administration, Dr Chris Amadi, stated that the Foreign Post Graduate
Scholarship Programme had been running for the past 12 years. He observed
that this was the first time the monitoring and evaluation of the scheme
was done at the highest level involving the top executive of the Commission.
He said: “In the course of the visit, we were able to resolve some of the
outstanding issues that were lingering before we came on board. We also
leveraged on the opportunity to foster new areas of partnerships. I am
happy to announce to our people that in addition to what we are currently
doing with the universities. We got some new deals that will benefit
students and people of the region.
“We have a commitment from Coventry to grant additional scholarships to
students who excel at first degree level. By this arrangement, first class
students from the region will be granted scholarship by Coventry
University.”
As part of the collaboration, he said, there was an agreement for the
establishment of specific Master’s level scholarships for best graduating
students from universities in the Niger Delta region, as well as an
arrangement for the establishment of a Doctoral Training Centre.
Dr Amadi said that the collaboration would include the establishment of an
e-library system which would allow researchers and scholars from the Niger
Delta region to have access to materials published from top journals and
electronic databases.
He added: “We expect that this opportunity will open a new vista for more
things to come to our region.”
Charles Odili
Director, Corporate Affairs.
April 15, 2019.Download all attachments as a zip file
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