The Petroleum Technology Development Fund,
PTDF, on Monday inducted 217 beneficiaries of its
2013/2014 and 2014/2015 Masters of Science,
MSc, and Doctor of Philosophy, PhD, scholarships.
#At the ceremony in Abuja, the Executive Secretary
of the fund, Femi Ajayi, said that the new
beneficiaries had brought the number of recipients
of the scholarship programme to 2, 974 since it
began in 2000.
“Today, we are inducting 217 scholars, including
170 fresh MSc scholars, four deferred as well as 43
fresh PhD scholars,” he said.
He said that no fewer than 500 candidates sat for
the examination, out of which 217 were selected.
According to Mr. Ajayi, PTDF has so far sponsored
the training of 2,412 MSc students in Petroleum
Engineering, Gas Engineering, Geo-Science, Off-
Shore Engineering, Geology and other oil and gas-
related courses. He said 488 PhD scholars were
also trained in relevant fields overseas since the
inception of the Fund, adding that some of the old
beneficiaries were engaged in the oil and gas
industry and the academia.
“The Fund has also trained 74 university lecturers
under its University Lecturers Skills Enhancement
Training Program, a train-the-trainer programme, in
Newcastle, United Kingdom and Grenoble in France.
“Twenty others will be leaving Nigeria for Grenoble,
France in September this year,” he added.
While explaining that the programme could not hold
last year due to financial challenges, Mr. Ajayi
commended President Goodluck Jonathan for his
timely intervention in providing fund this year. He
explained that the prevailing trend in the petroleum
industry had exposed the wide gap between
technology advances in the global scene and the
limited capacity of Nigerian professionals.
According to him, non-availability of some core
courses in Nigerian universities which are relevant
to oil and gas sector, necessitates the need to send
Nigerians abroad for studies in such areas. He said
that on their return, the beneficiaries were expected
to fill up the skills gap in the industry “in the area of
state-of-the-art technologies”.
“One of the main objectives of the Overseas
Scholarship Scheme is to encourage and stimulate
continuous learning and technology development in
the petroleum industry,” he said. “It also aims to
expose Nigerians to the latest technological
advancement in the global petroleum industry.
“It seeks to accelerate the development of local
capacities in an international competitive
environment thereby enhancing local content
participation,” he said.
While congratulating the recipients, the executive
secretary advised them to be diligent in their
studies, and reminded them of the need to return
home after their studies to help in building the
country.
“There is actually a bond for the PhD students
although we have not been enforcing that bond
because we believe that you should be patriotic to
serve your country,” he said.

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