Speaking with the News Agency of Nigeria in Abuja on Monday,
The Executive Secretary of the PTDF, Dr Bello Gusau, said that the
beneficiaries had acquired first degrees as well as master’s and doctoral
degrees.
According to Gusau, PTDF, under its fund’s strategic
direction, provided these respective scholarships to applicants in the United
Kingdom, Germany, France, China and Malaysia.
He said that the fund sponsored students/awardees in all
major disciplines related to oil and gas and energy industries, including
engineering, geosciences, environmental studies, computing and management.
“This has enhanced the upward shift of local content
contribution to the industry, facilitated knowledge transfer and driven the
development of indigenous research and the growth of Nigerian companies,” Gusau
said.
He noted that the utmost desire of the fund was for the
knowledge acquired to be transferred to others, both in the public and private
sectors so as to develop specialised indigenous human capital expected to take
over from the expatriates.
The PTDF boss also said that the fund had committed hundreds
of millions of dollars to sponsoring Nigerians over the years on various
training programmes while striving to achieve its mandate since its inception
in 2002.
Reacting to the impression that many students, after getting
PTDF grants to study overseas, never returned home, thereby defeating the
purpose of the investment, Gusau said that the beneficiaries were expected to
return and contribute meaningfully to national development.
He added that the purpose of the scholarships was to train
and equip Nigerians to participate in and contribute to the country’s oil and
gas industry, either directly or indirectly, through academia.
“While we are not averse to our awardees remaining
temporarily in their countries of study to gain relevant experiences, it is our
expectation that PTDF awardees will eventually return to Nigeria and contribute
their quota to national development.
“Awardees, especially at the PhD level, who are drawn from
the academia and industry, are bonded to ensure that they return to the country
and their places of employment after their studies,” he remarked.
(NAN)