Dr Bello Gusau, Executive Secretary of the Petroleum Technology Development Fund, PTDF, on Wednesday in Abuja said granting scholarships to students to study overseas may​​ no longer continue.

”​The present scholarship arrangement, which is disproportionately focused on the Overseas Scholarship Scheme, is no longer sustainable and therefore needs to be reversed​”, Gusau said at an interactive session with​ Vice-Chancellors of Federal Universities in Nigeria.

A statement by Mr Kalu Otisi, PTDF Head, Press and External Relations Unit, quoted Gusau as saying that there would be a new strategic agenda that would govern the training and capacity building programmes of the Fund.

“At the centre of the agenda is the domestication of all PTDF training and capacity building programmes, with the implication that Nigerian universities will now play a greater role in the process as partners and major stakeholders.

“The bulk of the scholarship for both the Masters and PhD’s to be offered going forward, would be for training in Nigerian universities.

“We are also open to collaboration, especially through the split-site Ph.D programme,’’ he said.

Gusau said the meeting with the Vice-Chancellors was to agree on relevant terms as well as gather sufficient information that will assist the Fund in the planning and implementation process.

Executive Secretary, National Universities Commission (NUC), Prof. Abubakar Rasheed, lauded the initiative, saying it tallied with the vision to collectively reform Postgraduate training in Nigeria.

Abubakar described PTDF as the single most important intervention agency outside the education family intervening to build capacity in select areas in the country.