The Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF) has reaffirmed its commitment to advancing capacity development, research, and education in Nigeria’s energy sector through stronger collaboration with the National Universities Commission (NUC).
The Executive Secretary of the PTDF, Alhaji Ahmed Galadima Aminu, led a delegation of the agency’s management team on a courtesy visit to the NUC Executive Secretary, Prof. Abdullahi Yusufu Ribadu, in Abuja.
Speaking during the visit, Aminu highlighted the Fund’s mandate to build human and institutional capacity for the oil, gas, and energy sectors, with emphasis on training, research, and institutional development.
He noted that the establishment of the College of Petroleum and Energy Studies, Kaduna (CPESK), a world-class postgraduate institution, is central to this mission.
The college, which sits on 86 hectares, is fully equipped with modern academic, residential, research, and digital learning facilities.
Aminu commended the NUC for its role in licensing CPESK to operate as a private postgraduate university with 19 programmes across 6 departments and 3 faculties, and for its guidance in aligning the institution’s academic framework with global standards.
He also announced partnerships with three leading UK universities — University of Strathclyde, Robert Gordon University, and University of Portsmouth — for split-site PhD programmes, as well as collaboration with NNPC Limited on professional and vocational training.
The first cohort of PhD students will be admitted in September 2025.
In his remarks, Ribadu praised the PTDF’s impact in the oil and gas industry, describing CPESK as a landmark achievement that offers foreign standard education locally at a more affordable cost.
He reaffirmed NUC’s involvement from the project’s conceptualisation stage and assured continued support to maintain high educational standards, while stressing the need for strong focus on research.
A press statement from the PTDF noted that the visit “underscored the PTDF and NUC’s shared vision for a bright future in energy sector education and research in Nigeria.”
