The Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF) has listed energy transition, renewable energy, climate change and artificial intelligence (AI) among its priority disciplines for shortlisting of candidates for the 2026 Overseas Scholarship Scheme (OSS).

The PTDF’s Head of Human Resources, Bolanle Agboola, said this on Thursday in Ibadan, Oyo State, during the South-West screening of shortlisted candidates for its scholarship.

Ms Agboola, who is also the team lead for the South-West OSS selection exercise, said the fund was aligning its human capital development interventions with evolving realities in the global energy industry.

She said that while PTDF remained committed to core petroleum-related disciplines, it was increasingly focusing on new and emerging areas shaping the future of the energy sector.

“The current or emerging issues in the petroleum industry now, or in the energy world now, are energy transition, renewables, climate change.

“Those are the areas that are the emerging issues in the industry now, and that is our major focus for this year.

“AI is also one of the things on the table now. These are the areas that PTDF will be focusing mostly on. However, we are not still leaving the petroleum aspects of the industry,” she said.

Ms Agboola said that PTDF supports academic fields relevant to the oil and gas industry, including engineering, geological sciences, environmental studies, energy studies, management, law, computing and other IT-related areas.

She said that the overseas scholarship remained one of PTDF’s flagship human capital development interventions aimed at building indigenous capacity for Nigeria’s energy sector.

According to her, the programme enables talented Nigerians to pursue advanced studies in top-ranked universities abroad and return with knowledge and skills that can strengthen the country’s oil and gas industry.

“The Petroleum Technology Development Fund is the agency of government for indigenous capacity building for the oil and gas industry,” she said.

Ms Agboola stated that PTDF received 38,399 applications for the 2026 scholarship scheme, which started in February with over 500 shortlisted from the South-West centre in Ibadan.

The PTDF’s head of human resources said that the exercise was being conducted simultaneously across six centres in the six geopolitical zones of the country.

She added that PTDF expected beneficiaries to return to Nigeria after their studies abroad to deploy their expertise in advancing the nation’s energy and petroleum industry.

“We expect them to come back to Nigeria to contribute because the Federal Government is expending so much to send them abroad to gain knowledge, experience and exposure.

“We expect them to come back and bring those knowledge, expertise and experience to bear in the oil and gas industry in Nigeria,” Ms Agboola said.

She, however, warned candidates to desist from using unethical tactics such as certificate forgery or impersonation to aid consideration for shortlisting.

The PTDF official said that anyone caught involved in misconduct would be prosecuted.

“Last year, about 10 people were caught in Abuja. We have equipment that can detect the authenticity of your credentials and certificates, and we do not want a situation where you are here for scholarship and you get another thing.

“If you are fished out, that person will face the wrath of the law because forgery is a criminal offence in Nigeria,” she said.

Also speaking, Prof. Wasiu Raji of the University of Ilorin and a member of the interview panel, described the quality of candidates so far as top-notch.

He stated that the credentials presented showed that only some of the best applicants made the shortlist.

Mr Raji, a beneficiary of the PTDF PhD scholarship in 2007, commended the fund for sustaining a rigorous and fair selection process over the years.

“The scheme remains a major opportunity for exceptional but indigent Nigerian students seeking quality international education.

“I urged prospective applicants to monitor the PTDF website for future openings,” he said.

Also, the Federal Character Commissioner for Lagos State, Abdulwasiu Bawa-Allah, represented by a Director FCC, Oluwakemi Opakunle, said the processes aligned with federal character principle.

Mr Bawa-Allah said? “The exercise was in tandem with standards that reflected equity, transparency and fairness.”

Two of the candidates, Temitope Ashade a first class graduate from the Afe Babalola University and Malik Muhammed from the University of Ilorin said the exercise was well conducted.

They both said they would maximise the opportunity to study for their master’s abroad if selected and return to use their knowledge to improve the nation’s oil and gas sector.

Out of a total of  6,211 candidates shortlisted for the PTDF OSS, 921 are for master’s programme while 298 are for PhD. 

(NAN)