Lawmakers in Nigeria for the second time in two years, have directed that the Presidential Scholarship Scheme on Innovation and Development should be suspended pending its scrutiny of its process, procedures and beneficiaries.
According to the House committee chairman on education, Hon. Aminu Suleiman, who chaired a public hearing on the matter, expressed regrets that its previous decision was jettisoned by the Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Universities Commission (NUC) with the support of the ex-minister of education, Nyesom Wike.
“Last year we asked for the exercise to be stopped and reversed because some parts of the country felt cheated. Unfortunately, the Executive Secretary of the NUC through the directive of the former minister of education and the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), snubbed us.
“But the committee allowed it to pass believing that a lesson would have been learnt. But here we are again. The same process is being adopted.”
In response, the Executive Secretary of the NUC, Prof. Julius Okojie, insisted that qualification for the scholarship is based on merit and not federal character. He explained that only first class graduates are involved.
Stressing that out of the multiple entries, only 100 applicants are selected as beneficiaries, Okojie advised that the scheme should not be scrapped.
He said he would not be a party to deliberately design a system that would exclude some parts of the country. “Unless we are saying that the criteria have to change, I will not advise that the programme should be scrapped,” he emphasized, pointing out that whatever transpired at the meeting he would relay to the President.
