By Maryam Ahmadu-Suka
The ongoing selection and screening exercise for the Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF) overseas Scholarship Scheme has received commendation for its transparency and smooth organisation.
Dalhat Ibrahim, a Director at the Federal Character Commission, Kaduna Office, expressed satisfaction with the conduct of the exercise during a monitoring visit on Monday in Kaduna.
Ibrahim said he was impressed by the level of transparency and organisation displayed throughout the screening and interview process.
“I have gone round the screening areas and observed the interview sessions. Honestly speaking, I am impressed.
“All the processes are transparent and conducted the way they should be,” he said.
He commended the PTDF for creating a fair environment, noting that candidates appeared confident and satisfied with the process.
Also speaking, the Team Lead for the second batch of the Overseas Scholarship Scheme interview, Prof. Abdulkadir Alkali, described the exercise as robust and seamless across the country.
Alkali, who is also the head of IT in PTDF, said that as part of its mandate, the PTDF gives out scholarships to deserving candidates of Nigerian origin to study within the field of oil and gas overseas at MSc and PhD levels.
He noted that the initiative was already yielding positive results as most of the candidates are sought out in many universities within and outside the country.
“This week, we are here in Kaduna for PhD candidates that have chosen Kaduna as their preferred avenue for the interview.
“As part of its mandate, the fund does what you call manpower development in oil and gas.
“What PTDF has been doing in realisation of this mandate is to get these candidates, send them overseas to get the best possible knowledge in the oil and gas sector and then come back to give back to the country.
According to him, as of last year, PTDF has trained over 2,800 candidates, students in respective MSc and the PhD fields and that is why you will hardly go to any university or any tertiary institution without finding a beneficiary of this scholarship programme.”
Some of the candidates who spoke to NAN expressed optimism about their chances.
Mr Muhammad Jumare, a lecturer at the Federal University of Education, Zaria, lauded the initiative by PTDF.
“The title of my research topic is A Hybrid Machine Learning Approach for Predicting Safety Critical Equipment in the Oil and Gas Sector.
“My research aims to develop a model that will predict whether a machine is faulty or not.”
Similarly, Habiba Muhammadu, a PhD scholar, said if selected, she hopes to use her research to solve waste spillage problems.
“My topic is on biosurfactants producing microorganisms from waste environments as functional additives for oil spill mitigation, especially in the tropical marine environment.”
“Nigeria has had several oil spill problems, my topic is trying to address these problems by using biosurfactants, which are natural substances from microorganisms, to help clean up these oil problems that Nigeria is having.”
One of the Panelists, Dr Alolu Funsho, an Associate Prof. of Cyber Security from the Federal University of Technology, Akure, expressed optimism that the candidates, if selected, will do very well in their chosen fields.
She described the interviewing process of the candidates as credible.
“As PTDF scholars, we are looking at people that will contribute to the body of knowledge and then that will also make contributions and provide solutions to the local problems that we are facing especially in the Nigerian oil and gas sector.
“We want them to put on their thinking caps and bring problem solving skills. Something that will be globally relevant and at the same time that is something that is locally available that will be affordable for everybody to be able to access.”
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the PTDF selection interviews for the 2026/2027 Overseas Scholarship Scheme are scheduled to hold from April 7 to April 17 across the six geopolitical zones.
The centres include Abuja (North-Central), Bauchi (North-East), Kaduna (North-West), Rivers (South-South), Enugu (South-East), and Ibadan (South-West) (NAN)
Edited by Yakubu Uba
