PTDF raises selection team for overseas, local training scheme

The Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF) has raised a committee to select beneficiaries of its 2016/17 overseas and local scholarships in Ph.D. doctoral category.

Upon the inauguration of the committee by the Acting Executive Secretary of PTDF, Ahmed Galadima, in Abuja, the central selection committee was charged with interviewing candidates who were shortlisted for the exercise.

A total of 1,305 candidates applied for the 2016/2017 PTDF Overseas Scholarship for PhD studies, while 196 indicated interests in the local scholarship for PhD studies in Nigerian Universities.

At the end of the screening exercise, 758 candidates out of the 1, 305 that applied for the PhD overseas scholarship were shortlisted for interview while 133 out of the 196 that applied for the local scholarship (PhD) were shortlisted and invited for the oral interview.

The subject areas for the award include Engineering and Renewable Energy, Environmental Management, Computing and Geosciences and other related oil and gas courses.

The break down shows that 411 were shortlisted for Engineering and Renewable Energy courses, 298 for Environmental Management, 45 for computing and Geosciences and 4 in oil and Gas related fields for the overseas scholarship while for the local scholarship scheme, 68 were shortlisted for courses in Engineering and Renewable Energy, 21 for Environmental Management, 41 for Computing and Geosciences and 3 for other oil and gas related courses.

In flagging off the selection interview programme, the Acting Executive Secretary, urged members of the Central Selection Committee to be guided by the necessity to find solutions to present and anticipated challenges in the oil and gas industry using the products of PTDF scholarship schemes.

With 2, 839 MSc. and 839 PhD Scholars already trained under PTDF Overseas Scholarship Scheme and 862 under PTDF Local Scholarship Scheme in the past 15 years of operating as an independent fully functional agency of government, the Petroleum Technology Development Fund is taking a critical review of its operations and processes that will lead to a strategic shift in the implementation of the Overseas Scholarship Scheme.

while speeding up on domestication and transfer of technology.
The Acting Executive Secretary stresses that the Fund has also decided to intervene in building capacity for the Renewable Energy and Gas Technology sectors, which are rapidly emerging as a sustainable alternatives to fossil fuel.

He therefore called on members of the Central Selection Committee comprising of Professors and subject matter experts from the academia and the industry, to contribute ideas towards the success of the unfolding new directions in the implementation of the Fund’s capacity building programme.

He urged the members to be objective in carrying out their assignment in order to sustain the integrity and transparency of the process.
His words: “Let me reiterate the importance and sensitivity of this assignment as well as the scoring criteria to be used. This is a national assignment that will have a great impact on the future of PTDF and the country in general. For the scoring, we have a template that is used to rate the applicants ranging from the quality of their research proposals to its relevance in the oil and gas industry among others”.

Speaking on behalf of members of the Central Selection Committee, Prof. Abdullahi Zuru, Vice Chancellor, Usman Dan Fodio University, promised that the Committee would carry out the assignment with diligence and highest sense of responsibility. Members of the Central Selection Committee cut across academics and industry experts in different fields of the oil and gas sector.