The Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF) is set to further boost the manpower requirement of the nation’s oil and gas industry with its Overseas Scholarship Scheme (OSS).
The agency began the interviews for the final selection of qualified Nigerians for the award of overseas scholarships for both Masters and Doctorate Degree (MSc/PhD) programmes for 2024/2025 academic session.
The head of the PTDF Overseas Scholarship Scheme, Bolanle Kehinde-Agboola, told journalists on Monday in Abuja that the over 5,000 shortlisted applicants across the country are being interviewed and only qualified candidates would be awarded.
She disclosed that more than 20,000 applications were received, out of which over 5,000 were shortlisted across the zones.
Mrs Kehinde-Agboola also allayed fears that amid the high ‘Japa’ syndrome that the scholarship award recipients will not return to the country
She said that the PTDF had some measures in place to ensure that the candidates returned back to the country upon completion of their training.
She added, “The applicants sign bonds with us before going abroad. Also some of these countries we send them to do not allow them to stay back.
“Once you have sponsorship from a government agency, if you want to get a stay visa, they will ask you to go back to your sponsor for a letter of no objection.
“So these are some of the measures that are in place and I can tell you that lots of them come back.”
Agboola said the PTDF was partnering with four countries which the candidates would be sent to for training, including the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and Malaysia.
Agboola explained that PTDF was an agency of the federal government charged with the responsibility of building capacity and capability for the oil and gas industry.
“The purpose of this is for the indigenisation of the Nigerian oil and gas industry
“Note that every state of the nation will get an equal number of candidates based on our budget for the year,” she said.
On the reason for the overseas training, Agboola explained that it was due to the non-availability of most of the high level equipment needed for the training in the country.
“So, we train people abroad, so they can have hands-on experience of all the equipment and technology needed for the industry which is not readily available in the country.
“Aside from the overseas scholarship we also have the in-country scholarship where Nigerians are trained within Nigeria.
“We have upgraded the facilities of some universities in the country to some level and we partner with these universities to run the scholarship,” she added.
Recall that the PTDF on February 5 put out an advert inviting qualified Nigerians to apply for the 2024/2025 Postgraduate Overseas Scholarship Scheme (OSS).
The physical Interview exercise for shortlisted candidates in the two categories (MSc/PhD) is being held concurrently between May 20 and 24, in six designated centres across the country’s six geo-political zones.
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