The Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF) has begun screening of 151 shortlisted candidates for its 2025/2026 Overseas Scholarship Scheme (OSS) for MSc and Ph.D award.
The screening which started on Wednesday at the University of Nigeria Enugu Campus (UNEC), is for candidates residing in South-East.
The Manager, PTDF Centre for Skills and Development, Port Harcourt, Mr Uche Ikoku, said the screening would last for three days.
He said the exercise had been seamless and done according to PTDF mandate.
Ikoku said they assessed the candidates’ suitability and foreseeable impact of their academic research/work on the oil and gas sector.
According to him, the expertise and recommendations of panelists from academia and energy sector would help in identifying deserving candidates.
According to him, candidates are from geology, engineering, management and environment sciences where PTDF had discovered manpower gaps in the oil and gas industry.
“The PTDF OSS scheme is on for about 25 years. It is known for its integrity, rigor, transparency and fairness in the award of the scholarship across the country,” he said.
We’ve met with intelligent Nigerians
The Lead Panelist of OSS in South-East, Prof. Okwudiri Anyiam, said the panel is scoring applicants’ credential, research proposals or statements of purpose, and professional memberships among others in accordance with the provided templates.
“The screen is ongoing seamlessly. The panel members have met with bright and intelligent Nigerians.
“We are ensuring we pick some of the best among them and make our recommendations,” Anyiam said.
Responding, one of the screened candidates, Mr Henry Udeh, a Ph.D candidate, noted that the screening was hitch free and the questions asked were direct and relevant to each applicant’s academic pursuit.
Udeh said that he applied after seeing the online advert for the scholarship.
Another candidate, Miss Kenechukwu Ifediora, said that her Phd work would make great impact in Nigeria.
