Niger Delta Development Commission plans to send more students to UK universities

PLANS are being drawn up to send more Nigerian students for training in UK universities under a programme sponsored by the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) aimed at enhancing human capacity in the region.

Following its creation in 2000, training manpower has been one of the NDDC's mandates major missions and it has sent numerous students to universities worldwide as part of its function of ending violence in the Niger delta by training youths. Under the scheme, many youths, especially from Rivers State, have enjoyed training in UK universities and the NDDC says it now intends to expand this programme.

NDDC managing director Professor Nelson Brambaifa, recently embarked on a visit of several UK universities, where he assured them that the commission will keep sending them students. During his five-day working visit, he reiterated the commission’s willingness to advance its foreign scholarship programmes.

Professor Brambaifa said: “We visited some universities in the UK to find out the challenges scholars are facing in their various institutions with focus to resolving them. The visit afforded us the opportunity to explore the prospect of deepening our relationship with foreign universities and take advantage of other mutually beneficial programmes.

“We interacted with scholars benefiting from the commission’s foreign post graduate scholarship scheme at the universities of Coventry, Derby, Salford, Birmingham, Hertfordshire and Huddersfield respectively. There was also an agreement for the establishment of specific Master’s level scholarships for best graduating students from universities in the Niger Delta region."

He said the institutions identified four major areas, which needed further collaboration in the scholarship programme. Professor Brambaifa added that the NDDC delegation also had a fruitful meeting with officials of the International Centre for Transformational Entrepreneurship.

“Among the agreements are the establishment of a doctoral training centre and establishment of platform for the promotion of innovation and enterprise. The fourth is the establishment of an e-library system which will allow researchers and scholars from the Niger Delta to have access to materials published from top journals and electronic databases,” Professor Brambaifa added.