PTDF reiterates commitment to funding scholars abroad

The Executive Secretary, Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF), Mr Femi Ajayi, has pledged to ensure prompt payment of all financial obligations to the fund’s scholars abroad.

He said the fund would also ensure that quarterly remittances of the scholars’ allowances were sustained.

He said that in spite of the funding constraints being faced by the agency, his number one priority would be to keep all the scholars in school.

The scribe said that would be done at all cost even if it meant suspending all infrastructure upgrade programmes until the funding situation significantly improved.

“Since we came in, we have not done any new project, but we are meeting all our obligations to scholars.

“The other projects are also priorities but they are supposed to complement these obligations,” he said.

Ajayi said that the fund would continue to remit all the accommodation, utility and other expenses to scholars on quarterly basis throughout the period of their scholarship.

According to him, this payment is done before the first day of the first month of every quarter to forestall delays in the payment process.

The fund, he said, had developed a spreadsheet containing the names and relevant information about every scholar and that served as a guide to know when payments were due for each scholar.

The Secretary also said PTDF had been anxiously waiting for the passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB),

“The PIB will give legal backing to the agency’s planned domestication of training programmes.

“This is in line with Nigeria’s local content policy as encapsulated in the transformation agenda of President Goodluck Jonathan,” Ajayi said.

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