OUTCRY
Oil firm: No foul play, verification ongoing

Undergraduates, who are beneficiaries of the Total National Merit Scholarship Scheme, have cried foul over the non-payment of their scholarship funds by the sponsor of the scholarship scheme- Total Exploration and Production Nigeria Limited (TEPNG)

Beneficiaries of the Total National Merit Scholarship Scheme are not happy with Total Exploration and Production Nigeria Limited (TEPNG), over what they described as the poor handling of the scheme, which they allegedly criticized as being laced with default.
According to them, the company, which is the sponsor of the scheme, has paid them only once in the last three years or thereabouts.

They complained bitterly about the agony the non-funding of the scheme has brought on their academic life.

The affected beneficiaries, who called for relevant stakeholders’ intervention to save their education, are mostly students who won the scholarships in the 2012/2013 and 2013/2014 batches, and particularly those on the joint venture scheme.

Meanwhile, as part of its corporate social responsibilities initiatives, aimed at closing the social-economic gap among Nigerian students by supporting the educational dreams of brilliant young men and women, the Total Exploration and Production Nigeria Limited, launched series of scholarship schemes, including the Total National Merit Scholarship scheme.
Under the initiative, there are two categories, including the one administered by the company, but which is jointly sponsored by the oil giant and the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), and codenamed NNPC/TEPNG Joint Venture Scheme. The other category is the TEPNG OML Scheme, administered directly by the company through Total Corporate/DW.
The beneficiaries of this initiative, who are undergraduates of various academic disciplines in public universities across the country, according to the company, are selected strictly on merit, through the screening examinations conducted by the oil company for that purpose.

The scholarship scheme, which is open to 100-Level and 200-Level undergraduates, offers an annual prize of N150,000 to each beneficiary per session. This, by implication means that an undergraduate running a five-year programme, who continues to meet the set academic criteria such as obtaining a minimum Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) of 2.5 points on a scale of 5.0 points, will benefit from the scheme for four times, amounting to N600,000.

Specifically, the criteria stipulated that those who are running the same programme, but won the scholarship while in 200-Level are by the standard entitled to N450,000 before graduation.

“In the last couple of years, many of us, the beneficiaries of the scholarship scheme, have not received our prizes as pledged by the oil giant,” the students lamented, saying the negative impacts of the non-funding of the scheme on their academic life are immeasurable.
One of the affected beneficiaries of the scheme, Oruese Onobukoraye, a 400-level medical student of the University of Calabar (UNICAL), Cross River State, an indigene of Ughelli North in Delta State, recalled how he had high hope when he won the scholarship with the belief that his dream of becoming a medical doctor had received a boost.

But, to the chagrin of the 25-year-old Oruese and the first child of his parents, Mr. Godwin and Mrs. Margaret Onobukoraye, the development seems to have dashed his hope, as he now experiences difficulties to pay his fees.

According to him, his father, a security guard with a company in Delta State, until his retrenchment three years ago, had nursed the fear over his inability to sponsor his son’s university education, when Oruese secured admission to study Medicine in 2012, but the scholarship came as a big relief.

Oruese recalled: “It was, therefore, a big relief when during my first year in the university, I wrote the screening examination for the scholarship and I won. My mother, who is also a petty trader, was happy when she learnt that the scholarship is renewable as long as I fulfilled all conditions. So, when I was paid the first prize in 2014, my parents prayed for me, and advised me to face my study so that I could meet the conditions for its renewal.

“But to my surprise when I was in 300-level and I forwarded all my documents as requested, no kobo was paid as pledged, and the situation has remained so till date. I made several representations through messages to the contact person, Mr. Aniefiok Friday, but no response. We sent e-mails and still no response, until last year, when we were asked to forward the documents again. Now, I am in 400-Level, but nothing has come yet from the oil company as it was the rule.”
Oruese, who expressed surprise that other beneficiaries, who are on the OML Scheme category are being paid regularly, however, regretted that he could not understand why he and other beneficiaries placed on the joint venture scheme and not OML have not been paid.

“We do not know the modalities in which we were grouped under the Joint Venture Scheme despite the fact that we all applied and wrote the same screening examination. In fact, I had to borrow money from one of my friends who is on OML Scheme and who was paid last year, to pay my school fees before I could be allowed to write my 300-level examination,” he added.
Oruese further lamented that due to the development, his younger brother has since been enrolled at an automobile workshop since his parents could not sponsor two of them at a time.

In a similar development, Tesleem Lawal, a 500-Level undergraduate at the Department of Electrical Electronics at the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH), Ogbomoso, expressed worry over the situation, lamenting that the non-payment of the scholarship has caused him much pain.
Lawal, a native of Igbongan in Ibarapa North Local Government Area of Oyo State, like his other colleagues, said life has not been easy since he lost his father some years ago, and that the scholarship prize he relied on has now been put on hold, without any reason from the sponsor.

“In fact, if not for the closure of our university, spanning almost seven months now, I might not be able to pay my school fees,” Lawal regretted.
Meanwhile, another beneficiary, Lekan Akin, a 500-Level student of Computer Science, University of Lagos (UNILAG), Akoka, who hails from Ode-Irele in Ondo State, also queried the rationale behind the funding of the OML scheme and the non-funding of JV scheme.
According to Lekan, his colleagues on OML Scheme have been receiving their prizes regularly with little or no hitch.

While urging the administrators and sponsors of the scholarships to come out and explain the circumstances surrounding their predicament to the beneficiaries under that category, he said the rule of the game should be followed to the letter in other to restore confidence in the students and their parents.

Some of the other affected beneficiaries of the scheme, who spoke with New Telegraph and condemned the action of the oil company include Joy Oduenyi and Margaret Wonah, 500-Level students of the Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Port Hacourt (UNIPORT), as well as Wale Onabanjo, a 500-level Mechanical Engineering student of Olabisi Onabanjo University (OOU), Ago-Iwoye, Ogun State.
Oduenyi, who is currently on a CGPA of 4.0 points, while her colleague, Wonah is on 3.8 points, queried the rationale behind their non-inclusion in the payment of the scholarship prizes.
Also, worried over the development are Aniebet Akpan, 500-level student of the Department of Electrical Electronics, University of Maiduguri (UNIMAID) and Julius Odionugba Odoma, also a 500-level student of the Department of Quantity Surveying at the Federal University of Technology, Minna (FUTMINNA), Niger State, who wondered why they have not been paid, despite the fact they met the set criteria.
But, some beneficiaries on OML Scheme category are also complaining that the payment has not been regular, even after fulfilling all the obligations.
One of such students is Lateef Abesin, 500-Level student of the Department of Electrical Electronics, Olabisi Onabanjo University, who lamented the delay in the payment of the scholarship prize.
However, the company has denied any foul play in the payment of the scholarship award to the beneficiaries, saying that the challenges might not be unconnected with certain logistic problems being faced by the company.
After several weeks of contacting the duo of the company’s Manager, Education and Scholarships, Mr. Azu Azuike and the Public Affairs Manager, Mr. Charles Ogan, New Telegraph was referred to its Public Relations Consultant – Caritas Communications Limited.
According to the consultant, many reasons could be advanced for the likely hitches characterising the payment, including late or delay in submission of results by scholars, non-submission of results and submission of results with CGPA lower than the stipulated requirement.
In the statement by the communication outfit, which was signed by Okwudili Onyia, it expressed the preparedness of the oil giant to address all grey areas, even as it requested for the list of the affected beneficiaries for prompt resolutions.
The statement reads: “Once again thank you very much for your patience and understanding. Your diligence is much appreciated. As discussed with you, we will appreciate receipt of the names of individuals, who may have encountered challenges accessing their scholarship fund to enable Total investigate further and resolve them without delay.
“Periodic verification exercises are carried out to confirm scholars or students’ statuses, which include payment of grants to ensure that no scholar is disenfranchised in any way. Verification of the National Merit Scholarship Scheme is presently ongoing.”
But, in its reaction to the development, the Executive Secretary of the Lygel Youths and Leadership Initiative (LYLI), a non-governmental organisation, Mr. Lekan Oladapo, berated the multi-national oil company for allegedly paying lip service to the scholars’ complaints.
He said if it were a social activity like entertainment and dancing competition, the company would have made much noise about it and award higher prizes.
“You can imagine a company reaping bountifully in the country at the detriment of the people, and yet could not pay token to those who merit it in pursuit of their education. But if it were to be one useless programme with less impact on the country’s future and the people’s development, these multi-nationals would not mind to invest huge resources.

“Look at the Big Brother Nigeria project that is taking place currently in South Africa, of what value is it to our economy and the future of the people? Yet the winner will go home with as much as N25 million, among other prizes. It is sad. I think there is need for the reordering of our priorities. Education, health and economy of the people need to be accorded the deserved priority

Hendrixtzee:
Aniefiok friday!! That name. Did all i should. Call, text, emails, send scanned documents all to no avail.
Na so my 2013,2014,2015 money carry go (450000). But we thank God now. We are done with school. We are bigger now.

I hope they (TEPNG) regroups and come stronger tho. They helped boys then