Delta Government on Thursday in Asaba disbursed N12 million to 40
beneficiaries of its local P.hd scholarship scheme at the rate of
N300,000 per beneficiary.Presenting the cheque to the beneficiaries, Chairman of the Delta
State Scholarship Board, Msg. Buchi Aninye, said the beneficiaries were
different from the batch that would soon receive the third tranche
payment of their scholarship, the News Agency of Nigeria reports.
Aninye said that the beneficiaries were those, who wrote the board’s
competitive examination on September 1, and scaled through the bench
mark set by the board.
He also said the state government, being conscious of a sustainable
development programme for the state, identified education as one of its
critical input needed to move the state to the next level.
The chairman said that this was because the administration was
convinced that the future for a better Delta with a robust economy and
well informed Delta people was largely in education being given its
rightful place.
Aninye further said that all the scholarships being rolled out by the
government were practical demonstration of the state government’s
commitment to its human capital development programme.
The chairman also explained that the state government had different
types of scholarship programmes, which include first class scholarship,
as well as local scholarship scheme.
Others he said, were the financial assistance to students of Delta
origin in the five campuses of the Nigerian Law School, students’
special assistance scheme and scholarship for children of deceased civil
servants.
Aninye said that the challenge in ensuring continuity was enormous,
especially as the board areas of jurisdiction was to meet the needs of
students, whom he described were like “Oliver Twist’’.
He, however, said that the board would continue to give the students
utmost attention, no matter how uncomfortable it might be and would not
renege on its duty.
The representative of the ministry, Mrs. Stella Itoto, said it was an
indisputable fact that education was needed to achieve the development
of human resource base, required to drive the economy of the state.
Itoto, who is also the director, Research and Statistics, also said
that it was against this backdrop that the state opened its door to
provide the needed leverage for its citizens to achieve academic height.
She further said that there was no better investment than to invest
in education, adding that the government was working towards having a
reservoir of research fellows that would constitute the human resource
base.
She, however, said that the scholarship was not tied to the
beneficiaries working for the state after the completion of their
programmes.
The director stressed that the Delta project was one that required
all hands to be on deck in order to move the state to an enviable
height.
