The Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC), a subsidiary of the Nigerian National petroleum Corporation (NNPC), says it has given out scholarships to over 2,000 undergraduate students in five of the oil-producing states of the Niger Delta region in the last five years, said Mansur Sambo, managing director of the national oil company.
Sambo spoke at the Federal University of Petroleum Resources (FUPRE), Effurun, Delta State during the 2019 scholarship examinations for indigent students of the company’s host communities.
He was represented by Dahiru Abubakar, manager, Community Relations department; saying that over 4,000 tertiary undergraduate students had participated in the pre-selection scholarship examinations in the period under review. He said the scholarship scheme was part of the oil company’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) to boost human capital development of youths in the host communities.
Sambo listed the five benefitting states to include: Edo, Delta, Imo, Akwa Ibom and Rivers.
He said that, in the 2019 scholarship programme, over 300 students participated in the examinations across the three centres which are FUPRE for Delta State, Imo and Rivers states. According to him, this was a pre-selection examination for indigent students of the company’s host communities; and it took place simultaneously in the three states.
“The scholarship scheme is not a one-year scheme, but the one that will take the beneficiary through the university until graduation. But the scheme does not include employment. The scheme will prepare them to be employable, and contribute meaningfully to the community, as well as establish and sustain mutual relationship between the company and its communities.
The main thrust of NPDC corporate social responsibility policy is education. The relevant of education in any society cannot be overemphasized,” he said.
The NPDC boss noted that educating a society leads to educating the whole nation for improvement, technology and development in general. Whereas, an illiterate society produces an illiterate nation that will be stagnated in all facet of human life.
Sambo said the company had spent millions of naira in execution of the scholarship scheme, and said he was pleased with the academic performance of the student-beneficiaries. He called on parents to encourage their wards to key into the scheme, as it goes a long way in ameliorating the burden of financing their children’s education.
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Also speaking, Prekeyi Tawari-Fufeyin, the Deputy Vice Chancellor (Administration), Federal University of Petroleum Resources (FUPRE) commended NPDC for the initiative. She said the institution are consultants to NPDC by conducting the scholarship examinations for selected students from different communities.
The DVC Admin said about 180 students were writing the exam in FUPRE in Warri, with over 300 students in all the three centres in Imo, Delta and Rivers.
Tawari-Fufeyin said the programme was a laudable initiative which the Niger Delta youths should take advantage of to empower themselves for the future. “Youth restiveness has reduced in the Niger Delta area, but not totally eradicated, because they’re beginning to take advantage and appreciate the NPDC initiative,” she said.
The FUPRE deputy vice chancellor said the scholarship scheme was for those who are already university students, especially some of whom cannot pay the fees because of poverty; and of course, the university system survives on payment of fees.
She said it was the third time they were conducting the scholarship examinations. At the first time, they had over 800 students selected for the scholarship exams. In the last exams, the number dropped because NPDC assets reduced, with students coming from NPDC’s concession areas also dropped.
