The Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, has said it would no longer be sending students overseas to study Accountancy or Law, rather it could send students to foreign universities to study Forensic Law as a speciality that is not so available in Nigeria.
Speaking at an event organised to commemorate World Youth Day, Thursday, in Calabar, Cross River State, Mr. Udengs Eradiri, a special assistant to the NDDC managing director, Effiong Akwa, said the Commission would rather invest the money in universities in the Niger Delta region.
The commission said henceforth it would rather prefer to sponsor people to universities in Nigeria, instead of sending them abroad.
“We cannot be sending people to study accountancy or law in foreign universities; rather we can send someone to read forensic law as a specialty that is not so available in Nigeria.
“We will plunge those monies in our universities in the Niger Delta to develop them and affiliate them with foreign universities,”
According to him, the gesture is to develop tertiary institutions in the nation and affiliate them with their foreign counterparts to make them centres of excellence to train thousands of Nigerians.
“On skills acquisition, NDDC is looking at the areas where we have comparative advantage as a nation to build the capacity of the youths. These areas include agriculture, the creative industry and manufacturing,” he said.
The Commissioner of Police in Cross River, Aminu Alhassan, in his remark, said many youths from good homes went into drugs and cultism “out of curiosity and bad association”.
Mr Alhassan urged youths to draw close to God and stay away from drugs and cultism because it was easy to become an addict, but difficult to be rehabilitated.
The NDDC used the occasion to reward 20 students in Cross River with electronic devices to enhance their education.
Source: NAN