The Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF), on Thursday, expressed concern over Nigeria’s loss of its human capital investment, revealing that many scholars sponsored by the agency for overseas studies are remaining in the United Kingdom, United States, and Canada.
Mrs. Bolanle Kehinde-Agboola, Head of the Overseas Scholarship Scheme (OSS) at PTDF, an agency responsible for developing capacity in Nigeria’s oil and gas industry, disclosed that 8,196 Nigerians have benefited from the Fund’s combined Overseas and In-Country Scholarship Schemes.
Speaking at a PTDF students’ sensitization program in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, Kehinde-Agboola lamented that a significant number of these foreign-trained graduates are not returning to Nigeria due to a lack of employment opportunities within the country’s oil and gas sector.
“Total beneficiaries from the combined recipients of Overseas and In-Country Scholarship Schemes are 8,196. We have trained over 8,000 students and some of them after the training remain over there. All our investments are retained in US, UK, Canada, and more,” she stated.
She further highlighted the frustration of returning graduates, saying, “Also, there is a complaint that when they come back to Nigeria, they don’t get a job, and they are finding it difficult to be absorbed in the oil and gas industry. Therefore, we need to create more cooperation and partnership with the oil and gas industry.”
Kehinde-Agboola announced that the PTDF has initiated collaborations with oil and gas industries in Nigeria to address this issue, aiming to secure employment for its graduates, particularly those trained abroad, in key positions within these companies.
She explained the PTDF’s mandate, stating, “The PTDF is designed to meet the long-term human capability requirements of the oil and gas industry through education and training of Nigerians (in-country and overseas) in relevant fields such as: engineering, geological sciences, environmental studies, management, ICT, and health and safety.”
The PTDF was established by Act No. 25 of 1973, succeeding the Gulf Oil Company Training Fund Administration Act, 1964, inheriting its assets and responsibilities to provide training and education for Nigerians in the petroleum industry. The scholarship scheme supports individuals from SSCE holders to graduates pursuing master’s degrees and also sponsors research in Nigerian universities.
Kehinde-Agboola emphasized the purpose of the sensitization program: “We are here today to sensitise the students of the University of Uyo to the activities of the PTDF… Under the human capital development, we have programmes that the PTDF has developed. One of them is the PTDF scholarship in which most of the students are interested in. The purpose of that scholarship is to develop students in oil and gas-related areas to ensure that they have knowledge transfer from different institutions across the world. We also have to harness our alumni, we have a lot of them scattered all over the world. How do we harness them for our own benefit and also improving recruitment and number of scholars of our product in the oil and gas industry? This is the major problem for us.”
Sunday Adedayo Asefon, Senior Special Assistant on Students’ Engagement to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, stressed the evolving demands of the oil and gas sector, stating, “The oil and gas sector was no longer a space for only technical experts; it demanded a multi-disciplinary approach, involving engineers, policy analysts, digital innovators, environmental scientists, legal minds, and even community mobilisers. Our youth and students must be equipped with the tools not only to participate in the space but to innovate within it.”
Asefon commended the PTDF’s role, saying, “The role of the PTDF in supporting capacity building cannot be overstated. Through initiatives like scholarships, training programmes, and partnerships with academic institutions, the PTDF is helping to lay the foundation for a new generation of Nigerian professionals who will bring excellence, transparency, and sustainability to this sector and Nigeria at large.”
Students from tertiary institutions in Akwa Ibom State expressed their appreciation for the PTDF’s programs aimed at building long-term human capacity in the oil and gas industry.
© Ripples Nigeria