A total of 931 candidates from the South-West region were screened on Thursday in Ibadan, Oyo State, for the Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF) overseas scholarship scheme.
The team leader for the screening in the zone, Masud Mohamed, disclosed this at the screening venue located at the Faculty of Petroleum Engineering, University of Ibadan.
According to Mohamed, 749 candidates had already been screened last week for the Master’s programme. The interview process spanned five days and was conducted in both morning and afternoon sessions.
He further revealed that 182 candidates are currently being screened for doctoral programmes in fields relevant to the petroleum industry.
Mohamed also serves as the Manager of the College of Petroleum Studies, Kaduna, a training arm of the PTDF.
“The scholarship scheme is in fulfillment of one of its mandates. It remains a deliberate strategy to boost indigenous expertise and bridge the capacity gap in the nation’s oil and gas sector.
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“One of the mandates of the PTDF is the responsibility of developing capacity for the oil and gas industry, and that’s precisely why we are doing this.
“The scholarship scheme is in fulfillment of one of its mandates. It remains a deliberate strategy to boost indigenous expertise and bridge the capacity gap in the nation’s oil and gas sector.
“One of the mandates of the PTDF is the responsibility of developing capacity for the oil and gas industry, and that’s precisely why we are doing this.
“The screening is strictly on oil and gas-related courses and the initiative has been running for several years now and produced scholars who are making valuable contributions to the society.”
He stated further that the screening exercise was decentralised, with six centres established nationwide, one per geopolitical zone, to ease participation, maintaining that it aligned with the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Tinubu in term of human capacity development of Nigerians.
Some of the candidates, Funke Olaonipekun and Uchechukwu Ginika, who spoke with journalists, said they knew about the opportunity from their friends.
Olaonipekun said, “I have no doubt in my mind that I will be one of the successful candidates as the whole process from applying to the screening session has been fair and transparent.”
On his part, Ginika, who applied for a doctoral degree at the University of Strasbourg, France, lauded the PTDF for investing in education of Nigerians and thus contributing to the future of the country.
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