Omiete Blessing
Students from Egi clan in Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni Local Government Area of Rivers State have called on the International Oil Company, TotalEnergies E&P Nigeria Limited, operating in the area to release their alleged years of unpaid outstanding scholarship benefit.
The students under the aegis of Federated Egi Students Association (FESA) and led by their National President, Ebirike Fidelis, told journalists in Port Harcourt that many of the students who are under the scholarship of the company have dropped out of school because of the inability to pay their school fees.
Ebirike who commended TotalEnergies for their successful operation in the past 100 years across the globe, regretted that many of the students from the clan who are studying in various institutions of higher learning were refused to participate in examinations as a result of non payment of school fees.
READ ALSO: http://State Police’ll curb commercial kidnapping; it’s non-negotiable — Ex-President Jonathan
The Egi student leader expressed “It is sad to note that over the years the scholarship scheme seems to have been abandoned or neglected as Egi students no longer receive any form of assistance in form of scholarship. This has led to increased hardship and suffering among many Egi students.
It has become extremely difficult for many of the students to pursue their academic development as a result of the harsh economic realities. We think that this negligence resulted to the hijacking of the processes by Egi Youth Federation (EYF).
“We demand immediate payment of all outstanding scholarship for past years, payment of scholarship for over three years which has been a torn in the flesh of the Egi students. We understand that scholarship are issued, yet, students don’t receive the funds”.
READ ALSO: http://Nigeria not mature for state-controlled police, says IGP Egbetokun
Ebirike who questioned how a scholarship will be issued without alleged payment, said “The students community demand an immediate response as this have had a negative effect on the students and the educational sector of Egi students. We have cases of school dropout as a result of the policy if ‘No School fees no examination ‘ introduced in some Nigeria institutions”.
Reacting to the allegations, the Country Communications Manager, TotalEnergies Country Services, Dr Charles Ebereonwu, said the claimed by the students were false and does not reflect the reality.
Ebereonwu in a statement made available to journalists in Port Harcourt yesterday, expressed that “The company is up to date with the payment of due amounts to bona fide beneficiaries of our community scholarship programme who have met the terms of the scholarship”.
He said “Beneficiaries who have not received their payments, might not have submitted their sessional results for the preceding years, which is a condition for the continuation of the scholarship.
“We suspect that some students have been victims of swindlers who sold them fake scholarship application forms and so not captured in our database as bona fide scholars. Some other genuine applicants were not awarded scholarship because they did not meet the qualifying criteria”.
Ebereonwu further explained that payment of scholarships by the company to community beneficiaries stopped with the 2022/2023 academic session, which he said has been made.
He added that “All subsequent sessions would be paid by the respective Host Communities Development Trust. The names of all the beneficiaries have been communicated to their community representatives as required”.