RELATIVE to the numerical strength of the Nigerian population, not many people know of the existence of the Petroleum Technology Development Fund, PTDF. Fewer people will even know of the mandate of the organisation. With the Federal Government having 943 Ministries, Departments, and Agencies, MDAs, and 541 state-owned corporations, it will be a full-time job to keep track of the MDAs and their functions.
Now and then, however, one or two of them come out of the shadows to make headlines, usually not for doing anything that the rest of us can be proud of, but they make news mostly as a result of sleaze, crisis or some other negative construct.
According to a paper titled “Petroleum Technology Development Fund, PTDF, Mandates and Human Capacity Development in Nigeria: Benefits for Nigerian Youths” in the International Journal of Research in Management, Issue 3, Vol.5 (September 2013), the Petroleum Technology Development Fund, PTDF, was established by Act 25 of 1973 as amended in Cap 15 of 2000 to replace the former Gulf Oil Company Training Fund Act 1964 for the purpose of training and educating Nigerians for the oil and gas industry.
Between 1973 and 2000, PTDF functioned as a desk in the Department of Petroleum Resources, DPR, but finally made a full-fledged government agency in September 2000. In September 2000, an Interim Management Committee, IMC, was appointed with Alhaji Yusuf Hamisu Abubakar as its pioneer Executive Secretary and five assistant general managers as Committee, TIC, headed by the then Special Adviser to the President on Petroleum Matters, while both the IMC and the TIC operated under the direct supervision of the Vice President. The Body has since inception been headed by many Executive Secretaries/Chief Executive Officers.
The vision of PTDF is not only to act as an instrument for the development of indigenous manpower and technology transfer acquisition in the petroleum industry but to make Nigeria a human resource centre for the West African sub-region in the petroleum sector. The mission is to train Nigerians to qualify as graduates, professionals, technicians and craftsmen in the fields of engineering, geology, science and management in the petroleum industry. PTDF, like every other organisation, has a mandate upon which it functions. Muttaqha et al (2010) said the focal point in the mandate of PTDF is to develop technology that would remove obsolescence and outdated practices, encourage alignment through collaboration to retain international best practices and develop responsive and flexible but dynamic operations.
Sadly, these lofty objectives are not what the PTDF is in the news for, recently. Instead, from the Northeastern state of Adamawa comes rumbles over the appointment of a new Executive Secretary, ES, for the organisation. There is palpable unrest in the state, with stalwarts of the two major parties — the APC and the PDP throwing brickbats at each other. While APC members are crying foul, and in fact are alleging that the appointee, Ahmed Galadima Aminu, is a sympathiser of the opposition party, PDP members are smug, revelling in the fact that their alleged closet sympathiser has bagged a “juicy” position from where the fortunes of the party can get fresh impetus.
According to reports, the recent appointment of Ahmed Galadima Aminu as Executive Secretary and Chief Executive Officer, CEO, of the PTDF has stirred unrest, particularly among APC members in Adamawa State. A statement by the Special Adviser to the President on (Media & Publicity), Ajuri Ngelale, on October 17, 2023, announced that the President directed Aminu to serve in an acting capacity until he commences his substantive four-year term on December 26, 2023.
This is where the dissatisfaction stems from, with APC rank and file in the state alleging that Galadima may have been a significant supporter of Atiku Abubakar’s campaign teams in the state. This is further buttressed, as they claimed by the fact that it was PDP stalwarts who were congratulating Aminu on his appointment. It was alleged that chieftains of the PDP led by Umar Bello Jada (Calculate), expressed gratitude to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for appointing Ahmed Galadima Aminu as the PTDF’s Executive Secretary and CEO. Nevertheless, there is a strong belief within the APC rank and file in the state that if more APC members get appointments instead of opposition figures, the fortunes of the party will be better enhanced in the state, which is the home state of major opposition figures, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, and is ruled by Alhaji Umaru Fintiri, a PDP governor.
Nevertheless, the paper referred to above concluded, inter alia, that: “Government should also endeavour to allow the PTDF to enjoy its autonomy and desist from using it as political tool in pursuing personal or political goals. In rural areas, it will make more sense to have the agency to be more sincerely involved in skills acquisition and human resource development programmes just as they are in the programmes relating to infrastructure.”
Whichever, we are operating a presidential system of government where the winner takes all. PTDF, or any other MDA, should not be an exception.
and then