The Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) has issued a public alert over the activities of fraudsters impersonating the agency and offering fake postgraduate scholarship opportunities to unsuspecting individuals.

In a statement released Sunday from Port Harcourt, the NDDC’s Director of Corporate Affairs, Mrs Seledi Thompson-Wakama, warned that the scammers had been soliciting money from members of the public under the guise of securing placements in the commission’s Postgraduate Foreign Scholarship Programme.

She noted that the NDDC had been made aware of fraudulent emails and messages sent to applicants, falsely claiming to be from the agency’s ‘Board Registry’. These emails, originating from the address nddcregistry@gmail.com , invite recipients to attend a non-existent document verification and authentication exercise scheduled to take place between May 19 and May 21 on Bishop Oluwole Street in Victoria Island, Lagos. Thompson-Wakama made it clear that the NDDC has no connection with this so-called exercise, describing the entire process as fake.

The commission reaffirmed that all legitimate communication regarding its scholarship programme is carried out solely through its official portal at www.scholarship.nddc.gov.ng. Thompson-Wakama cautioned applicants to ignore any unsolicited messages requesting money, personal details, or offering scholarship placements outside the established NDDC channels. She urged those who have received such fraudulent communications to report them immediately to the relevant law enforcement authorities for investigation and action.

She further encouraged Nigerians interested in participating in the NDDC’s educational programmes to rely exclusively on the commission’s verified communication platforms for accurate and up-to-date information.