Members of the National Board of Trustees (NBT) for the Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF) Research Endowment Programme, made up scholars across the nation’s university system have been charged to localise their research facilities.
Dr. Aliu Gusau, the Executive Secretary, Petroleum Technology Development Fund(PTDF), who gave the charge during NBT meeting weekend in Abuja emphasized that the move has become necessary to discourage travelling abroad for research purposes.
National Board of Trustees (NBT) is the highest policy decision-making body where discussions on critical issues on Endowment programme are deliberated.
He charged holders of the professorial of the chair to brainstorm on kick-starting processes of establishment of research facilities within the country, stressing that the need to domesticate research facilities in the country had been the subject of meetings with relevant stakeholders in the industry in the last months.
“We have had a few meetings in the last six months, we are trying to bring many industry players together, presently, the NNPC research and development department, Nigerian Content Monitoring and Development Board (NCDMB), are on board to see how we can make research facilities available across the country, especially those researches that are dedicated to the oil and gas industry. So, I am hoping this meeting will kick-start that process,” stated the PTDF boss.
Fielding questions from journalists, Gusau disclosed that plans are underway to establish laboratories for the promotion of research in the oil and gas industry.
He noted that continuous research was necessary for developing capacity in the sector, adding that the meeting would also discuss the processes needed in achieving the projects.
“We have been rearranging the programmes, reorganising the PTDF, but I think this is going to be an issue we are going to put at the front burner, partly because it is a key element of our mandate.
“Developing capacity for the oil and gas industry requires information, knowledge and the only way we can get knowledge is continuous research.
“We one of the things we have been planning for quite some time now, is establishing two or more research laboratories because if we have research facilities centralized, the researchers across the country can avail themselves of such facilities. This is what we are planning for the moment. This meeting will discuss the processes that we need in achieving this,” he stated.
The meeting reviewed the current operational strategy of the Endowment programme and make recommendations on new areas of research to be sponsored by PTDF.
The Fund has so far endowed eight Professorial Chairs in eight Universities across the country to carry out indigenous research towards solving oil and gas industry problems and as well develop local technology and input required for effective operations of the industry.
