PTDF INCREASES ITS OVERSEA SCHOLARSHIP SLOTS-PREPARE NOW

“We are making progress today, we are discussing these issues today, the ones we agree, we agree, the ones we disagree, we disagree on principles and forge ahead. I really want to commend the efforts of the new Executive Secretary of PTDF and his Management team for putting up this appearance. We will look at the presentation and by the special grace of God, this country must continue to move ahead”.By this patronising statement by a member of the House of Representatives Committee on Petroleum Resources (Upstream), which was also adopted by other members of the Committee, it was obvious that the dark days of bitter antagonism, and mutual suspicion which characterised the relationship between the National Assembly and PTDF is giving way to that of mutual respect and healthy co-operation and tolerance.
The setting was the Committee hearing room of the House of Representatives. The Management of PTDF sat in a ring after being welcomed into the fairly expansive room. There was palpable apprehension on the faces of the invited guests, as going by the experience of previous invitations by the Committee, they expected another explosive session.The opening remarks by the Chairman House of Representatives Committee on Petroleum Resources (Upstream) Hon. Bassey Otu to the effect that the Committee was working on a draft amendment bill that will bring the Fund under the purview of appropriation may have excercabated the already tensed atmosphere especially on the side of PTDF Management.Hon. Bassey Otu confirmed that the draft amendment bill being put together by the Committee seeks to reposition PTDF as a more effective vehicle to develop Local Content in the oil and gas industry. Until the amendment process is concluded, he said the Committee will continue to make do with the existing law but will do all that was necessary to ensure that the objectives for establishing the Fund are realised. The indication of a rapprochement came from the opening remarks of the new Executive Secretary of PTDF Engr. Muttaqha Rabe Darma. He said the Management of the Fund is appearing before the Committee to lay down the programmes and action plans of the Fund for the assessment, appreciation and guidance of the Committee. This simple straight forward statement of purpose by the Executive Secretary was the ice breaker as it assured the Committee that the Fund was this time around prepared to submit to the Legislatives direction of the Committee. On the substantive issues, the Executive Secretary told the Committee that the Fund’s cash flow projection for 2009 is estimated at N32.9 billion while the Fund’s expenditure projection stands at N33.8billion, with an expected deficit of N.9billion. He said PTDF, intends to complete 99% of outstanding works on the intervention projects that were started in 2006. According to Engr. Muttaqha Rabe Darma, “we have had several meetings with the contractors and we have arrived at a workable solution such that by the end of the first quarter of 2009, 75% of the total works would have been completed” he said. It is expected that by the end of the third quarter of 2009, more than 90% would have been completed. These projects include the upgrade of the Petroleum Training Institute Effurun, in Delta State, the second phase of the University upgrade project involving eight universities as follows: Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi, Bayero University, Kano, University of Ilorin, Federal University of Technology Minna, Federal University of Technology, Owerri, Obafemi Awolowo University Ile Ife, University of Calabar, and University of Uyo. The third phase of the programme will involve ten (10) Universities. Other capital projects slated for completion this year include the National Technical Institute for oil and gas Ekowe, Bayelsa State and the development of primary and secondary schools at Oporoza and Okerenkoko, in Delta State. The Executive Secretary told members of the Committee that construction work at the National College of Petroleum Studies, Kaduna will commence this year with N2.5 billion already set aside for the take off the project. Also, for commencement this year is the construction of PTDF Headquarters building in Abuja. Two new projects he said are also slated for commencement this year. They include the National Centre for Skills development and training in oil and gas to be located in Port-Harcourt, and a National Centre for renewable energy sources. This stems from the world wide consensus on the effects of hydro carbons and the need for alternatives to hydro carbons. The Executive Secretary said towards the realisation of the projects, a panel of experts will be constituted to prepare grounds for its take off. The report of the panel of experts will lead the process of formation, location and award of contracts for the centre in the fourth quarter of 2009.The Executive Secretary told the Committee that existing programmes and projects of PTDF will continue this year with slight modifications in their implementation. For the Overseas Scholarship Scheme, the Fund will increase the number of beneficiaries from three hundred and ten (310) to four hundred and fifty (450). Similarly, beneficiaries in the Ph.D category of the Overseas Scholarship will be increased from 35 to 50 per session.Under the Technology Sharing Programme of the Fund, the Chair occupants of the Professorial Chairs already endowed in eight Universities will be provided with the means to relate their research outcomes with other industry experts. He said the Fund will continue to promote research in the development of technologies for the oil and gas industry through the oil and gas Annual Research Grant competition, while more qualified Nigerians will benefit from the Local Scholarship Scheme of the Fund in the ratio of one hundred and twenty Scholarships in the undergraduate category, fifty for M.sc and 50 for Ph.D in the 2009/2010 programme.Expectedly, there were several interventions by members of the Committee on the action plans of the Fund as presented by the Executive Secretary. First the Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Petroleum Resources (Upstream) Hon. Bassey Otu, expressed his frustrations in appreciating the concept and operationalisation of the National College of Petroleum Studies, Kaduna, for which N2.5 billion has been set aside for its take off. According to Hon. Bassey Otu “I have been finding it a bit difficult to understand what this project is all about. What is the philosophy? The colossal sum involved in the project is mind boggling. We have seen other business schools which are not in that magnitude. What do you intend to achieve by establishing the institute?” In his comprehensive response, the Executive Secretary of PTDF, Engr. Muttaqha Rabe Darma equates the National College of Petroleum Studies to flagship institutions such as the Nigerian Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), Jos. He said what NIPSS represents in the public service is what the National College of Petroleum Studies will be for the Petroleum Industry in Nigeria. He said that what the National Defence College and the Command and Staff College, Jaji are to the Military is what the proposed College will be for the Petroleum Industry. “ In a nutshell, it’s about people who are in management position, senior managers who want to move to general management level will necessarily have to attend NIPSS if they were in the public service, and in order to become a General in the army, you will have to attend the National Defence College, Abuja. This is what the National College for Petroleum Studies represents for the oil and gas industry”.The Petroleum Industry he said is a very dynamic industry, with other countries having their own variants of the College. For member countries of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), it is a mandatory requirement to establish institutions for the training of middle level management such as we have in the Petroleum Training Institute (PTI), Effurun, Delta State and the training of high level man power such as being proposed for the College in Kaduna. He made it clear that other oil producing countries have set up similar institutions to build up their Local Content policy. Such countries include Malaysia which has established three (3) of such institutions including a full- fledged university for oil and gas studies; India which established OGIC to develop high level manpower for the oil and gas industry. Other countries with similar establishments include Egypt, France, and Lebanon. The American Petroleum Institute which regulates global standards in the industry, he said, started off as a College similar to the one being established in Kaduna.The Executive Secretary told the Committee that an important feature of the College is the establishment of a world class laboratory for analytical work that is expected to attract world class experts and scholars for research in the industry. He told the committee that though the college had been in existence since 1992, it lacked the necessary infrastructure for the kind of training it was designed to offer. He said PTDF intends to expand the facilities and structures of the College to enable it impact on the training needs of the entire oil and gas industry. “If you are working either for the private sector, or in government agency such as NNPC and related organisations, and for you to move to General Manager Level, then you have to attend certain courses that will be run by the college. What obtains presently is that colossal sums of money is being spent for overseas training for these grade and category of officers who want to move from the Senior Management level to General Management level. If you calculate the amount spent in training this category of people in the petroleum industry overseas and you compare it with the provisions made for the college, you will discover that what is being spent in overseas training in the last 10 years is much higher than what is provided for establishing the college”.A member of the committee wanted to know the reasonableness in setting up a brand new centre for renewable energy sources instead of strengthening existing institutions that are located in Zaria, Ife, and Ibadan. The Executive Secretary of PTDF Engr. Muttaqha Rabe Darma said being a research fellow in one of the centres, he is conscious of the fact that not one of them focuses on renewable energy sources but deal essentially with resources. What PTDF intends to accomplish, he said is the establishment of a centre dealing exclusively with discovering sources of replacing hydro carbons in the near future. “We intend to constitute a panel of energy experts to guide us appropriately before we take a final decision on the establishment, location and place of the centre” he said.At the end of the more than two hours session with the House of Representatives Committee on Petroleum Resources (Upstream) there was clear optimism that a new lease of relationship between PTDF and the National Assembly has been established as according to the Executive Secretary “It is the beginning of greater improved relations with the National Assembly and good things that will come our ways.”

Kalu Otisi Esq.Head, Press and External Relations