About 560 in the Northwest geopolitical zone have been invited by the Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF) as part of its annual screening of candidates for Overseas Scholarship Scheme for MSc and PhD studies.
Successful candidates will secure spots in the scholarship program aimed at developing human capacity for oil and gas industry in the country.
Speaking with journalists in an interview shortly before the commencement of the exercise, the Manager, Training, PTDF, Attahiru Ahmed, said, “We are looking at oil and gas related courses. The criteria for this interview is that the candidate must possess O level certificate, their class of degrees, and the relevant fields that they are applying for.”
He noted that the programme which has been running for sometime, has developed a lot of capacities for the oil and gas industry.
Also, the Director, Katsina State office of Federal Character Commission, Dalhatu Yusuf Ibrahim, noted that the selection process has been transparent.
Habiba Ali, one of the candidates selected from the Department of Economics, Bayero University, Kano (BUK), said she realised that advancing technology in nations financial sector will help in leveraging the problems being faced.
Another candidate, Captain Chukwuebuka Nwali of the Nigerian Army Education Corps and a graduate of education physics, said, “The issue of corrosion degradation of oil and gas equipment has been costing Nigeria a lot, in billions of naira, so, I tend to solve this problem using my knowledge at Uganda, when PTDF sponsors me. Then, apart from that, I’m interested in nuclear physics. There are a lot of benefits Nigeria can derive from nuclear science and technology, ranging from health to industry to research.”
