Some of the beneficiaries of the NNPC/Shell Cradle-to-Career scholarship, with their parents, take a picture with Isaiah Inaibo (centre) at the 2022 graduation ceremony of Brookstone Secondary School in Port Harcourt recently. Ekeremor, Delta State-born Isaiah Inaibo is a pioneer beneficiary of the C2C and recently graduated with a First Class degree from Afe Babalola University.
A total of 184 beneficiaries of the NNPC/Shell Cradle-to-Career scholarship for secondary school students have been migrated to the SPDC JV university scholarship programme in the last five years, Shell’s Head of Corporate Relations for Nigeria, Igo Weli, has said, adding that the beneficiaries are all from the company’s areas of operations in the Niger Delta.
“These beneficiaries are among the 708 youths from the Niger Delta who have benefited from the Cradle-to-Career (C2C) scholarship since inception in 2010,” Weli said at the recent graduation of another set of 60 C2C scholars from four of the partner private secondary schools in Rivers State, where he was represented by the company’s Social Performance and Social Investment Manager, Mr. Emmanuel Anyim.
The Cradle-to-Career scholarship provides full scholarship to each student covering tuition, accommodation, books, clothes, toiletries, medical insurance and visiting care for the six years of secondary school and is targeted at brilliant children from Niger Delta with less-privileged background.
Weli, who spoke at the graduation ceremonies at Bloombreed High School, described the C2C scholarship as a flagship intervention programme by SPDC and its joint venture partners to bridge the socio-economic gap in education among youths in the Niger Delta. The other partner schools are Arch-Deacon Brown Educational Centre, Jephthah Comprehensive College, and Brookstone Secondary School.
He said, ““We are particularly proud of the success of the Cradle-to-Career scholarship programme, which seeks to provide quality secondary education to brilliant students from rural public schools in remote communities of SPDC’s operational areas in the Niger Delta. We are pleased that the C2C has been consistent since it began in 2010.
Shell Companies in Nigeria have a history of supporting education through scholarships and other initiatives. In 2021, the SPDC JV and SNEPCo invested $6.2 million in scholarships. Since 2016, the SPDC JV and SNEPCo scholarship programmes have awarded more than 2,500 secondary school grants, over 3,200 university grants and 900 Cradle-to-Career scholarship grants to students. SNEPCo also runs a C2C programme pan Nigeria.