The House of Representatives has urged government’s Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to engage beneficiaries of the Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF) scholarship programmes in their services.
This followed the adoption of a motion by Rep Samaila Suleiman (APC-Kaduna) at plenary on Wednesday, March 17, 2021, in Abuja.
Speaking on the motion, Suleiman said that PTDF was established to serve as an instrument for the development of indigenous resources and technology transfer acquisition in the petroleum industry.
He said that PTDF was to make Nigeria a human resource center for the West African sub-region in the petroleum sector, by training Nigerians as graduates, professional and technicians.
He added that PTDF was also to make Nigerians great entrepreneurs in the field of engineering, geology, science and management in petroleum industry.
He said that PTDF activities were designed to lay a lasting foundation for growth and development while strengthening existing technology as well as supporting infrastructure and human capacity for discoveries and inventions.
Suleiman noted that PTDF was also aimed at providing scholarship and bursaries wholly or partially to students in universities, colleges, institutions with petroleum related curriculum in Nigeria or abroad.
He expressed sadness that most of the beneficiaries of the PTDF programmes had remained largely unengaged after they had been trained with huge amount of resources.
The House mandated its Committees on Petroleum Resources (Upstream) and Legislative Compliance to ensure compliance.