NDDC Warns Public About Fake Scholarship Offers

In a time when many young Nigerians are desperately seeking opportunities for education abroad, fraudsters are exploiting that hope with a new wave of fake scholarship scams this time, using the name of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).

In an official statement released from Port Harcourt on Sunday, Mrs. Seledi Thompson-Wakama, NDDC’s Director of Corporate Affairs, raised the alarm over the activities of impostors posing as NDDC officials. These scammers are reportedly soliciting money from unsuspecting applicants, falsely promising them slots in the Commission’s Postgraduate Foreign Scholarship Programme.

According to Thompson-Wakama, the fraudsters are using a fake Gmail address (nddcregistry@gmail.com) to send misleading emails. The messages falsely invite recipients to a bogus document verification exercise, supposedly taking place from May 19 to May 21 on Bishop Oluwole Street, Victoria Island, Lagos a location and event the NDDC has no affiliation with whatsoever.

“We want to categorically state that this exercise is fake,” Thompson-Wakama said. “The NDDC has not authorised any such activity, and the public should treat these emails as fraudulent.”

She emphasized that all legitimate information about the scholarship programme is only shared through the official NDDC portal: www.scholarship.nddc.gov.ng.

The Commission urged anyone who has received suspicious messages or requests for money in the name of the NDDC to report them immediately to law enforcement agencies.