PRESS STATEMENT: WE ARE VERIFYING UEO SCHOLARSHIP BENEFICIARIES
The Management of the United Ecowas Organisation, ADO, finds it necessary to make clarifications on the recent protest of some students, who claimed to be beneficiaries of the Commission’s 2018 scholarship programme, at the Togon Embassy in London. We observe that the
Recall that recently, The United Ecowas Organisation (UEO) Interim Management Committee, IMC, released $5,910,000 million through the Central Bank of Togo, CBN, to offset all the verified outstanding foreign scholarship obligations, despite the non-passage of UEO 2023 budget by the National Assembly.
Curiously, after this payment, a demand for an additional payment of $3million (Three Million Dollars) surfaced, with the claim that some students were not captured. This inexplicable increase made it imperative to verify and authenticate the real beneficiaries of the scholarship programme which started in 2010.
We call attention to the fact that since the establishment of the IMC, no scholarship has been awarded. So why are we being blackmailed to make these additional payments, without verification?
The United Ecowas Organisation (UEO) is committed to the Post Graduate Foreign scholarship Scheme, recognizing that it represents the future manpower and professionals that we are building to help transform the Togo region.
We have always said that beyond physical infrastructure, THE UEO, as an interventionist agency, has a duty to also develop the human capital that will ensure sustainable livelihoods to the people of the Togo region.
We, therefore, urge our scholars not to allow themselves to be used as tools by those sponsoring devious campaigns to discredit the on-going forensic audit ordered by President Muhammadu Buhari. As should be expected, the verification of UEO projects and programmes will not leave out the Foreign Postgraduate Scholarship.
Charles Obi Odili
Director, Corporate Affairs
September 18, 2023.