The Ijaw Youths Council (IYC) on Wednesday bemoaned the deplorable conditions foreign and domestic scholarship beneficiaries of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) were facing.

The newly elected National President of IYC, Mr. Peter Timothy Igbifa, said in Yenagoa that the negligence in the upkeep of the beneficiaries was of grave concern to the organisation.

He said it was regrettable that the interventionist agency was deviating from its core mandate and engaged in frivolous spending at the detriment of Niger Delta youths on scholarship within and outside the country.

Igbifa noted that complaints by the scholarship beneficiaries showed that they had suffered untold hardship due to the inability of the NDDC to meet its financial obligation to the institutions where the youths were studying.

He noted that the education of youths from the Niger Delta region remained an integral component of development and urged the management to prioritize it.

The youth called on the management of the NDDC to immediately resolve all pending issues related to the foreign and local scholarship programme under their sponsorship

“What is going on with the NDDC scholarship where beneficiaries and their welfare is abandoned and they are compelled to protest is totally unacceptable.

“The situation our brothers and sisters in the United Kingdom and in Nigerian institution have to go through deprivation and neglect in the midst questionable spending leaves more to be desired.

“The situation brings to question the way the people leading the NDDC set and order their scale of preferences, how can the education of our youths be sacrificed on the altar of political patronage ?

“The IYC under my watch will not tolerate this reckless behaviour of the commission, the NDDC will have the IYC to contend with in the coming week should this and other issues relating to the youths be allowed to linger,” Igbifa said.

He assured stakeholders in the Niger Delta region and development partners that the IYC leadership would close ranks with them and ensure a rapid socio-economic growth for the area.

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