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Bayelsa backs Dikio on JAMB for intending beneficiaries of PAP scholarship

By Julius Osahon, Yenagoa
15 April 2021   |   4:05 am
Bayelsa State Government has declared that there is nothing wrong for intending beneficiaries of the scholarship scheme of the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP) to sit for the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) examination.

Bayelsa State Government has declared that there is nothing wrong for intending beneficiaries of the scholarship scheme of the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP) to sit for the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) examination.

The state government argued that the new policy would end racketeering in the scholarship programme and allow only the most qualified candidates to gain admission into tertiary institutions.

Interim Administrator of PAP, Col. Milland Dixion Dikio (rtd.) had explained that the new policy was aimed at discouraging selling of scholarship slots and encouraging excellence.

He said the policy would also ensure that beneficiaries of the scholarship programme compete for placements in the best universities, just as it would prepare them to be major players in a knowledge-based world.

“Our intention is to align with best practices for university admission, give scholarships to those who have high potential to graduate, remove favoritism and money for sponsorship racket,” he said.

Senior Special Assistant to Governor Douye Diri on PAP, Alaowei Opukeme, said in a statement in Yenagoa, yesterday, that those who oppose taking JAMB examination have not given any cogent reasons for their resistance.

He described the anti-JAMB campaigners as mediocre, who want to benefit from a scheme they do not genuinely deserve, urging Dikio to ignore them, as their complaints would only end up in the dustbin of disgruntled wailers.

Opukeme noted that the government decided to support the new policy because of growing agitations of those who are quick to condemn every new policy, because of sentiments or their own shortcomings.

He added that the state government would carry out a rigorous campaign on the issue to further enlighten the prospective beneficiaries of the PAP scholarship to see the new policy as a welcome development aimed at providing more employable graduates from the Niger Delta region.

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