The Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, says it is consolidating its
existing partnerships with universities in the United Kingdom to ensure
that the Commission gets more value for its human capital development
programmes.
Speaking after a five-day working visit to some universities in the United
Kingdom where NDDC scholars are undergoing post-graduate studies, Acting
Managing Director, Prof. Nelson Brambaifa, said it was important “to find
out the challenges scholars are facing in their various institutions in
order to resolve them.”
Prof. Brambaifa said the visit afforded the team, including the Acting
Executive Director, Finance and Administration, Dr Chris Amadi, and
directors of the Commission, “the opportunity to explore the prospects of
deepening the relationships with foreign institutions, to ensure we take
advantage of other mutually beneficial programmes.”
Prof. Brambaifa said that the NDDC delegation interacted with 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.
The NDDC Chief Executive Officer said his team had a fruitful meeting with
officials of the University of Coventry, which included two Deputy Vice
Chancellors, Dr. David Pilsbury and Prof. Richard Dashwood and a staff of
the International Centre for Transformational Entrepreneurship, Prof.
Gideon Mass
Prof Brambaifa stated that the two parties identified four major areas for
further collaboration. According to him, there was an agreement for the
establishment of specific Master’s level scholarships for best graduating
students from universities in the Niger Delta region. Another, he said, was
to establish a Doctoral Training Centre
He added: “The third area is to establish a platform for the promotion of
innovation and enterprise. The fourth is to establish an e-library system
which will allow researchers and scholars from the Niger Delta region to
have access to materials published from top journals and electronic
databases.
“The meeting also agreed to initiate an exchange programme between the
University of Coventry and select universities based in the Niger Delta
region. We are determined to ensure that any outstanding issues with all
our scholars and host institutions are comprehensively resolved.”
The NDDC boss stated that the Commission was very serious with its human
capital development programmes, noting that it was pursuing improved
investments in the educational sector as part of plans to ensure that the
youths get the right employment.
At the University of Salford in Manchester, the University management led
by Kaffo Yusuff thanked the NDDC delegation for the visit. He said the
university was ready to partner with the Commission to offer additional
scholarships and offer fee reduction to deserving students.
Speaking during an interactive session with the scholars, the Acting
Executive Director Finance and Administration, Dr. Chris Amadi, assured the
students that all their complaints would be addressed.
He said: “The delays that have been experienced in receiving payments is
because of the recent changes in the management of the commission. We are
new and certain steps had to be taken before we could resume our duties.
However, let me assure you that we will honour all our commitments as all
outstanding obligations will be fully cleared in the next twenty-one days.”
Charles Odili
Director, Corporate Affairs.
April 13, 2019.