Nigeria Does Not Need Expatriates In Oil Sector – PTDF

Nigerians have all it takes to take up the roles of expatriates in the country’s oil and gas sector, the interim head of the PTDF College of Petroleum and Energy Studies Kaduna, Dr Munir Sirajo, has said.

According to him, Nigeria will flourish better if many Nigerians are fully trained and participate in the oil and gas industry which is the highest contributor to the country’s revenue earning which is up to 80 per cent.

Sirajo stated this at the College’s Headquarters in Kaduna yesterday, at the sideline of the screening exercise for the applicants of the 2024 PTDF Postgraduate Scholarship Programme.

Speaking on the scholarship programme, he said it was aimed at ensuring that Nigerians were trained on the management of the country’s oil and gas resources.

“When oil was discovered in the country, those who managed its facilities were mostly expatriates. So, we feel it is high time Nigerians take up those roles, which we believe is a gradual process.

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“By mandate of Petroleum Trust Development Fund (PTDF), which was set up to develop human and technological capacity for the oil and gas industry, one of our cardinal programmes is the oversees scholarship scheme through which Nigerians are trained from various institutions across the globe.”

Earlier, the PTDF’s team lead for the North West Overseas Scholarship Screening Centre, Kaduna, Hajiya Saratu Idris, said 1,707 candidates applied for the scholarship, but 720 were shortlisted, and 189 candidates would be interviewed for the day.

She listed the scholarship programme to be on certain disciplines which were engineering, computing, Geo sciences, environmental and management sciences.

She also listed the host countries for the scholarship programmes to include Brazil, France, Malaysia, Germany and UK, explaining that some of the processes for the scholarship interview included the involvement of panelists who were mostly scholars.