From Paul Orude, Bauchi
No fewer than 606 applicants have been screened for the Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF) foreign scholarship in the Bauchi centre for Masters and Doctorate degrees programmes
The team Lead of the Fund, Suraju Abdullahi Fari, made the disclosure while speaking on the ongoing screening exercise at the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi, on Monday,
Fari explained that the screening exercise had been organised in six centres across the country.
He said that the 606 applicants were invited for screening for both second and third degrees.
He said further that the applicants who applied online were selected by a computerised system and verified by the Fund’s independent consultant to ensure transparency.
Fari revealed that the applications focuses on oil and gas and renewable energy to serve as solutions to some of the nation’s energy crisis.
“For transparency and fairness, we did our application online where the computer made the first selections, then we gave our staff before passing it to our consultants to vet it,” he said.
“We invited a team of panelists from different universities across the country, some doctors, some are professors, also from industries –Shell, Chevron and others”
Some of the applicants who spoke to jurnalists, expressed satisfaction with the process
They hope to be successful and benefit from studying and returning home to contribute to the nation’s oil and gas industry.