On Monday, the Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF) shortlisted over 5,000 applicants nationwide for the award of scholarships for the 2023/2024 academic session overseas scheme.

The head of overseas scholarship scheme in the PTDF, Bolanle Kehinde-Agboola, disclosed this at a selected interview exercise for the shortlisted candidates for MSc and PhD postgraduate programmes.

Ms Kehinde-Agboola said the selection interview was in continuation of the application process, which commenced on February 13, 2023, through publications in some national newspapers, inviting qualified Nigerians to apply.

“What is happening here today is the interview for the award of scholarship to Nigerians for the 2023/2024 academic session. We have shortlisted over 5,000 applicants to partake in the exercise which is going on in the six geo-political zones,” the government official stated. “The first criterion is that you must be a Nigerian. For the master’s programme, the applicant must be a student of any oil and gas fields like engineering, geology, computer sciences, environmental sciences and management.”

She added, “You must have a minimum of second class upper in any of these fields for you to be qualified.”

Ms Kehinde-Agboola also mentioned that the process of applying for the exercise was that the agency would open the application windows at the end of the year for candidates to apply.

She stressed that the PTDF was an agency charged with the capacity to strengthen and develop the oil and gas sector, indicating that the essence of the programme was to train those who would bring innovation into the sector.

She added that the exercise aimed to offer the applicants the necessary skills required to function effectively in the industry.

“The candidates are sent abroad to study the relevant skills. This scholarship scheme is running in the United Kingdom, while we also have what is called strategic partnerships in France, Germany, Malaysia and China,” the scholarship official explained. “This scholarship interview scheme will run for one week nationwide, and the number of successful applicants depends on its budget for this year.”

Ms Kehinde-Agboola stated that the agency “has two types of collaborations in this programme, the United Kingdom and the strategic partnership collaboration.”

The head of the scholarship scheme said the scheme had been existing over the years, adding that the agency had discovered that some applicants submit fake certificates.

“We have had a situation where someone finished from a university with third class in Nigeria and came with a first class certificate from a foreign university that is fake,” Ms Kehinde-Agboola revealed. “We were able to detect such fake certificates, and because of that, we decided to take a further step to ratify the issue by ensuring that this selection runs with integrity and diligence.”

According to her, the agency has deployed equipment to help detect fake certificates.

“We will always strive for excellence and ensure the programme has integrity. We engaged external experts to review the shortlisted applicants to ensure that whoever is shortlisted is qualified to attend the interview,” stated Ms Kehinde-Agboola. “After the interview, the successful applicants will emerge, and the award will be given to them.”

Ms Kehinde-Agboola noted that the exercise had been structured to efficiently deal with the high number of applicants and satisfy federal character stipulations. 

(NAN)