By Desmond Ejibas
Port Harcourt – The Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF), says it has commenced an oral interview to select the best candidates among 2,288 applicants in the South South that enrolled in its postgraduate oversea scholarship.
The PTDF Team Lead, Oversea Scholarship Scheme, Mr Sobomabo West, said during the test in Port Harcourt on Tuesday, that the 2,288 applicants were drawn from across the country.
He said the exercise mainly for Masters of Science (MSc) and Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) postgraduates was currently held across the six geo-political zones from June 19 to June 23.
“The selection interview is in continuation of the application process that commenced through publications placed on national newspapers in February, inviting qualified Nigerians to apply.
“So, we are here at the University of Port Harcourt Institute of Petroleum Studies (IPS) which we chose as a centre for the exercise in the South South.
“No fewer than 647 applicants would be interviewed for the PhD category, while 1,641 will be interviewed in the MSc category for the South South zone,” he said.
West said that PTDF would release the number of succesful candidates at the end of the interview process.
According to him, the foreign scholarship scheme has over the years produced well trained, competent and professional skilled manpower for the various segments in the oil and gas industry.
“The areas of training on offer are Engineering, Geology, Environmental Studies, Sciences, Management, Law, Accounting, Renewable Energy, Information Technology and offshore related courses.
“On Monday, we had officials from the Federal Character Commission arrive the centre, and so, I can assure you that we are transparent in the selection process.
“We have scholars to attest to our transparency as well as qualified panelists to look at every applicant’s case while we will do all these through newspaper publication,” he said.
He gave the assurance that the names of shortlisted candidates would be published in national newspapers to enable Nigerians to verify if the candidates selected were invited in the first instance.
Dr Joseph Amieibiniama, who is one of the panelists and Postgraduate Coordinator of IPS, said the PTDF scholarship was among the best organised scholarship programmes in the world.
Amieibiniama, who himself is a beneficiary of the Federal Government-sponsored scholarship, urged the participating candidates to work extra hard to be selected due to the programme’s high competition.
“So, candidates should work hard because the process is rigorous, highly competitive and unbiased. You don’t have to know somebody to get the scholarship.
“Those who would be selected for the scholarship must ensure that they go abroad to study and come back to Nigeria to contribute to the development of the country,” he said. (NAN)
