ASOPADEC General Manager, Venerable (Dr.) Joshua Onyeike.
ASOPADEC establishes database of students on its scholarship scheme
From Boniface Okoro, Umuahia
Abia State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission (ASOPADEC) has, after 14 years of its establishment in 2009, successfully created a comprehensive database of students studying in various tertiary institutions across the country under the Commission’s scholarship scheme.
The interventionist agency said such electronically stored data of all beneficiaries of the scholarship scheme never existed.
The Commission made this known during a meeting with about 150 beneficiaries of the scholarship scheme studying in Abia State University, Uturu (ABSU).
The ASOPADEC management said with the comprehensive database, management of the Commission’s scholarship programme would now be easier, even as the General Manager, Venerable Joshua Onyeike, reiterated the determination of the Commission to take on more developmental projects, noting that Governor Alex Otti’s administration was instituting discipline, orderliness and decorum needed to accelerate development.
The General Manager charged the students to be focused in their studies, reminding them that the Commission under his watch would uphold excellence, impressing upon them that the present administration expects them to add value to society through their educational training.
The ASOPADEC boss also used the occasion to disclose that since he took over the reins of power at the Commission, the agency has repaired its moribund electricity transformer and generating set for steady supply of power at the Commission’s office complex; commenced payment of arrears of salaries to boost staff productivity and rehabilitated Umuokomiri -Obehie road in Ukwa West Local Government Area to ease the sufferings of the people of the area; as well as sustained the payment of bursaries to students benefiting from the scholarship scheme.
According to him, the Commission has resolved to embark on more developmental projects in line with the vision of the state Governor, Dr. Otti, who has the interest of the people at heart.
Speaking earlier, ASOPADEC’s Head of Administration, Mr. Agomoh Kelechi, said that the Commission deemed it necessary to have a comprehensive data of students benefiting from the Commission’s scholarship programme which was non-existent before now, for the mutual benefit of the students, their institutions and the Commission.
Responding, leader of the student beneficiaries of the ASOPADEC Scholarship Scheme in ABSU, Prince Ikenna Allwell, a 400-Level student of Medicine and Surgery, said they were excited by the actions of the Commission in addressing the discrepancies with their welfare, promising that they would not disappoint ASOPADEC, in appreciation of their commitment towards the students’ academic well-being.
The meeting was attended by Management staff of the Commission and the students studying various courses in ABSU under the scholarship scheme.
