WAEC Conducts Scholarship Exam For 300 OML 34 Host Communities’ Students

Operators of Oil Mining Licence (OML 34), Nigeria Petroleum Development Company/NDWestern Asset Management Team (AMT) Joint Venture, on Saturday, engaged West Africa Examination Council (WAEC) in the conduct of a scholarship examination for 300 students in its Host Communities.

BIGPENNGR reports that the examination which was supervised by officials of WAEC from Lagos was held at the College of Education Warri, Delta State.

Addressing newsmen on the exercise, NPDC/NDWestern Asset Management Team (AMT) JV’s Manager, Government, Community Relations and Security Department, Mr. Sheidu Aiguedo, said that WAEC was engaged to conduct the scholarship examination to ensure transparency and wage off fears that the results would be manipulated.

Aiguedo, who was represented by the Company’s Community Interface Coordinator, Mr. Dele Aisekhalaye, disclosed that the students who sat for the examination were selected from their host communities based on oil production quota and pipeline bearing as part of the company’s Corporate Social Responsibility of propagating education and learning in its host communities.

“We sent messages to our host communities and based on facilities in your area, we select the students say three, four students in some communities. We gave the communities chairmen the free hand to select the students so ours is to conduct the examination.

“WAEC is doing the conduct of the examination, our is just the administrative work. It is WAEC that will release the results so there will be no issues of manipulation. We think WAEC is more established to conduct the examination”

He said that the exercise was a backlog of 2017, 2018, 2019 editions that were postponed due to global coronavirus pandemic adding that in no distance time the 2020/2021 edition of the scholarship examination would be conducted.

Aiguedo said that the scholarship examination results would be out within one month of the examination, expressing optimism that WAEC would be diligent and transparent in coming out with the overall beneficiaries of the scholarship.

He said that the scholarship examination had been an annual event of NPDC/NDWestern Asset Management Team (AMT) JV but was disrupted by COVID-19 which led to the postponement of three editions adding “we will be conducting 2020/2021 edition soon”.

Aiguedo, however urged students of its host communities to be hardworking in their academic pursuits saying that the scholarship was designed to help students and their parents overcome economic challenges in the country in the payment of school fees and attending to other school necessities.