The Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF) has explained that candidates for the overseas scholarships for Master’s and Doctorate degrees were selected based on their past academic performances and the potential of their proposals to address challenges confronting the petroleum industry and the country in general.

Speaking during the induction ceremony for successful candidates for the overseas doctoral scholarship programme in Abuja, Executive Secretary of the PTDF, Dr. Bello Gusau, said the candidates were selected based on the ability of their proposals to address industry challenges and drive Nigeria’s economic growth.

He said: “We decided that the selection of most of the candidate was based on their earlier academic endeavours, especially their earlier degrees. More importantly, it was based on the specific proposals and statement of purposes that they presented.

“We looked at which of those proposals have the potentials to address real-life changes, not only in our industry but in the country at large. The point is that at the level of PhD, we are not just interested in creating skills and competencies; we are particular in the projects, the potentials of the research to existing challenges. (Vanguard)