Not fewer than 436 Nigerians from the North-East subregion of the country have applied for Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF), a foreign scholarship.
The scholarship covers Masters’s and Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degrees as students in the United Kingdom in the Oil and Gas sector.
The disclosure was made by the Team Lead of the Funds in the North East, Sirajo Abdullahi while speaking to Journalists on Wednesday in Bauchi, saying that the Agency had invited applications from Nigerians and scheduled screening venues and dates across the six geo-political regions of the country.
Sirajo Abdullahi said that the Agency’s objective was to fill the gap in manpower skills in the oil and gas industry, hence the sponsorship in different foreign countries.
According to him: “We advertised the Programme in the media for six weeks, and applicants responded through an online portal where they submitted their credentials. After that, there was an automated system on the computer that screens the papers before our staff do the second stage of vetting and we then push it to an external consultant for independent screening.
The PTDF Team Lead also said, “Any applicant that scaled through these stages has been invited for this interview. In the North East, we have 436 applicants from Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Taraba and Yobe states. 171 students applied for PhD while 265 are for Masters Degrees.”
He further explained that successful applicants will be selected equally across the federation in line with the federal character. “We are selecting two PhD students and three Masters from each state, only oil-producing states will get an additional one slot each. We are strictly following federal character to give everyone a chance.”
One of the applicants who spoke with Journalists, Zainab Hassan said that she saw the advertisement on a WhatsApp group and applied and she was invited after submitting her credentials saying, “I’m from Yobe state. The exercise is very transparent and fast. This is how things should be done, they (officials) are very friendly and helpful.
A cross-section of the other applicants who spoke commended the PTDF for the transparent way the process was conducted saying that nobody will have a reason to complain at the end of the process leading to the selection of the successful people.