The Executive Secretary of the Delta State Bursary and Scholarship Board, Hon Sunny Orishedere, has disclosed that payment for the 2019/2020 bursary may be delayed due to closure of tertiary institutions across the country.
The closure is part of measures by the Federal Government to contain the spread of the Coronavirus disease which has claimed thousands of lives across the globe.
Orishedere, who stated this in an interview with Journalists, revealed that the payment would be delayed since academic activities have been crippled in all tertiary institutions across the country due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Executive Secretary stated although applications for the 2019/2020 has ended, the board could not proceed to the next stage of the exercise, as all higher institutions have been shut down by the government.
He added that consequently, the board would wait for the reopening of higher institutions in order to continue the processing of the applications, even as he revealed that 25,891 students applied for the 2019/2020 bursary award which started on the 20th of January and ended on the 12th of March 2020.
Speaking further, the Executive Secretary noted that the sorting and processing of the records, has commenced and would be followed by the sending of the students’ list to the 145 institutions that participated in this just concluded exercise, for further verification of the Students’ Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) and present level as at the close of the portal.
He commended the Delta State Governor, Senator Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa for the proactive measures put on ground towards curbing the spread of the virus in the state, saying the actions being taken at all levels of Government are geared towards bringing to an end the pandemic.
