The Executive Secretary, Delta State Bursary and Scholarships Board, Mr Elijah Ologe has disclosed that the state government had released N110 million to offset the backlog of scholarships of Delta state origin studying abroad, even as he revealed that the registration for the 2018/2019 scholarship and bursary programmes for Nigerians students have began.
Mr. Ologe who revealed this during a chat with journalists in his office, Asaba recalled that most of the scholarship programmes run by the board were temporarily suspended when there was recession but as soon there was respite Governor Okowa approved the commencement of all the scheme.
He said the board has continue to pay for the scholarship of the students of deceased civil servants and approval has also been given for the payment of the special scheme for the law students of Delta origin across the country.
Our system is no longer manual but computerised, he observed noting that no students can register twice now because of the features introduced by the computer system.
Ologe said the recent protest to his office by some students who were angry because of the delayed payments was unfortunate but largely caused by the students who filled wrong information in their documents.
“Some of the students don’t have bank verification numbers and accounts numbers. So they filled their relatives BVN and accounts name, different from their own names. When the banks observed these errors they will return all the forms for proper documentations. Sometimes the students don’t have direct phone lines, the process of verification of the student’s claims usually causes delay in payment of bursary.” Ologe added.
He equally noted that the process of traversing all the institutions of higher learning in the country posed a huge challenge coupled with the government bureaucratic processes in funds approval and releases.
The Executive Secretary appealed to students of Delta state origin to be good ambassadors of the state in the different schools of their learning and endeavour to respond to the various government programmes available for them.
He however, commended the press for taking up the challenges of nation building, saying press can make or marred any nation.
