Port Harcourt, May 5 — The Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) has issued a public warning over the activities of fraudsters offering fake postgraduate scholarships in the commission’s name.
In an official statement released Sunday in Port Harcourt, the NDDC’s Director of Corporate Affairs, Mrs. Seledi Thompson-Wakama, cautioned the public against falling prey to scammers who have been soliciting money under the guise of securing placements in a non-existent foreign scholarship programme.
“The attention of the NDDC has been drawn to fraudulent emails and messages sent to applicants of the commission’s Postgraduate Foreign Scholarship Programme,” Thompson-Wakama said.
She revealed that the fake communications, sent from nddcregistry@gmail.com and purporting to be from the commission’s “Board Registry,” falsely invite recipients to a document verification and authentication exercise scheduled to hold from May 19 to 21 at Bishop Oluwole Street, Victoria Island, Lagos.
“Members of the public are hereby advised that the NDDC has no affiliation with this fraudulent selection process,” she warned, stressing that the Commission does not request payment or personal information outside its official channels.
According to Thompson-Wakama, all legitimate correspondence related to the NDDC’s scholarship programme is conducted strictly through the commission’s official scholarship 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 said.
The commission urged anyone who receives such fraudulent messages to promptly report them to law enforcement authorities for investigation.
She also advised past and prospective beneficiaries of NDDC programmes to verify all information through the commission’s main website: www.nddc.gov.ng.
This warning comes amid renewed efforts by the NDDC to improve transparency and enhance the credibility of its developmental programmes across the Niger Delta region.