PhD scholars commend PTDF selection process

Selected scholars for the 2017/2018 PhD overseas Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF) scholarship programme have commended the fund for free and fair process used in selection of candidates.

Some of the candidates gave the commendation at the PTDF 2017/2018 induction programmed for PhD Overseas Scholarship scheme on Thursday in Abuja.

Mr Eguomo Omagamre, a Lecturer from the University of Benin, said that he went through the process without knowing anybody from the fund.

“I did not know anybody from the fund; I just did all that was required and was shortlisted for the test and today, I have been selected for the PhD programme.

“This, for me, indicated that things are not all that bad as I used to think, for me to get to this point, I commend the fund and the people that are working on this project,’’ he said.

Another Scholar, Aliyu Ali, said he had almost lost hope after the test when he did not get any information on the outcome of the result.

“I think this year’s selection was good, selecting best five candidates from each state was a good idea; I appreciate it and happy that they rigorously screened to bring out the best,’’ he said.

On her part, Ms Jessica Lenka, Assistant Lecturer, University of Jos, said that the process was transparent.

“We are many that applied for this exam and only few people that met the criteria of the fund were selected; this is for me a lesson that people must follow instructions in whatever they are doing.

“Most of us here selected met the demands and conditions of the fund and we were selected without influence of any member of the fund,’’ she said .

Earlier in his comment, PTDF’s Executive Secretary, Dr Bello Gusau, congratulated the 185 scholars that were selected, adding that it was a well deserved sponsorship .

He said that the fund painstakingly selected them through a rigorous process that was free and fair.

Gusau called on the candidates to be diligent while doing their programme in the foreign countries.

“We critically looked at your performances, the research work some of you will undertake and we believe that they will be very useful to Nigeria and particularly, the oil and gas sector.

“All of you that made it to this point are here because you deserve to be here, PTDF is not a scholarship board but an institution created to ensure that the oil and Gas sector have all it takes to bring about growth and development in the country.

“We have big expectations from you, this is a globally acclaimed programmed; we have many in the programme who are already doing great with so many fields from their various universities.

“I urge you to emulate them,” he said.

He further urged the scholars to be of high moral standards and respect the laws and regulations of their host countries as ambassadors of Nigeria.