The Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) has warned the public over the operations of scammers providing non-existent postgraduate scholarships to naïve victims.
Mrs Seledi Thompson-Wakama, Director of Corporate Affairs of the Commission, issued the warning in a statement released in Port Harcourt on Sunday.
She revealed that the scammers were collecting money from members of the public under the guise of providing scholarship spots.
“The attention of the NDDC has been drawn to fraudulent emails and messages sent to applicants of the commission’s Postgraduate Foreign Scholarship Programme,” she said.
Thompson-Wakama showed that the fraudulent emails, apparently sent from nddcregistry@gmail.com and claiming to be from the NDDC’s ‘Board Registry’, urge recipients to participate in a fake document verification and authentication exercise.
According to her, the alleged exercise will take place from May 19 to May 21 on Bishop Oluwole Street in Victoria Island, Lagos.
“Members of the public are hereby advised that the NDDC has no affiliation with this fraudulent selection process,” she stressed.
She further elucidated that all official communication concerning the commission’s scholarship programme is conducted exclusively through the official Commission portal: www.scholarship.nddc.gov.ng.
“Applicants are strongly advised to disregard any unsolicited messages requesting money, invitations, sensitive information, or offering scholarship placements outside of the official NDDC procedures,” she added.
Thompson-Wakama appealed to anyone who receives such fraudulent emails to report them immediately to the appropriate law enforcement authorities for prompt investigation and action.
She urged Nigerians interested in the Commission’s programmes to utilise only the official NDDC communication channels.
“We also advise former beneficiaries of the commission’s programmes and prospective applicants to verify all information through the NDDC’s official website: www.nddc.gov.ng,” she concluded.
