A total of 931 candidates from Nigeria’s South-West region have been screened by the Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF) for its overseas scholarship programme, the agency said Thursday.

The exercise, which took place at the Faculty of Petroleum Engineering, University of Ibadan, is part of the Federal Government’s push to boost indigenous expertise in the oil and gas sector.

According to Masud Mohamed, PTDF team lead for the South-West and Manager at the College of Petroleum Studies, Kaduna, 749 of the applicants were seeking Master’s scholarships, while 182 were doctoral hopefuls.

“This is one of PTDF’s core mandates – to build capacity in the oil and gas industry through training and development,” Mohamed told reporters. “The scheme has produced scholars contributing significantly to the sector.”

The screening, which was divided into morning and afternoon sessions over a five-day period, was open only to those applying for courses relevant to the oil and gas industry.

Mohamed said the initiative remains a strategic tool in bridging the national skills gap and aligns with President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda for human capacity development.

He added that six centres had been set up across Nigeria’s geopolitical zones to decentralise the exercise and ensure wider access.

Some candidates praised the process and expressed hope for success.

“I believe I’ll be among the selected,” said Funke Olaonipekun. “The process has been fair and transparent.”

Another candidate, Uchechukwu Ginika, applying for a PhD programme at the University of Strasbourg, France, lauded PTDF’s efforts.

“This is a great investment in the future of our country,” he said.

The PTDF scholarship scheme, now in its successive years, continues to serve as a vital pipeline for grooming skilled Nigerian professionals in the global energy sector.