About 16,000 applicants are jostling for 295 available spaces at the College of Petroleum and Energy Studies (CPES), established by the Petroleum Development Technology Fund (PTDF).

The Executive Secretary of PTDF, Ahmed Aminu, disclosed this when he led members of Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) on a tour of the institution in Kaduna.

He explained that out of more than 2,000 candidates that applied for the PhD programme, the institution can only accommodate 45, while out of 14,000 prospective candidates that applied for the master’s degree, only 250 will be accommodated in September when the college is expected to welcome pioneer entrants.

He said: “We already received over 2,000 applications for the PhD programme, but we are selecting only 45 at the pilot stage. For the master’s programme, we have received about 14,000 applications, but we can accommodate only about 250 candidates.”

Aminu noted that the establishment of the institution is in line with the PTDF mandate to build human and institutional capacity for Nigeria’s oil, gas and energy sector.

According to the PTDF boss, since its establishment in 1973 through Act No. 25 and amended in 1999, about 15,000 Nigerians have been trained by the Fund.

Aminu explained that the petroleum and energy college was established to train senior technical, managerial, and executive personnel for Nigeria’s energy sector. He disclosed that the college has been licensed by the National Universities Commission (NUC) as a private postgraduate institution that will offer 19 academic programmes across six departments and three faculties.