The Minister of State, Petroleum Resources, Dr Ibe Kachikwu, has urged parastatal agencies under the ministry to develop a roadmap for self-funding of their activities within the next three to four years.
A statement by Head of Press, Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF) Kalu Otisi in Abuja on Tuesday, stated that Kachikwu gave the charge while inspecting PTDF’s upgraded projects in PTI Effurum Delta-State.
“The Federal Government is not going to continue to be sending you yearly disbursements in perpetuity.
“It’s never going to work, so a major challenge is to identify those areas where you will have a big commercial nexus both for the upstream and downstream sectors of the industry.”
According to the statement, facilities inspected by the minister included an ultra-modern laboratory complex, a one- stop laboratory for research and training in diverse areas of onshore and offshore operations.
Other projects are facilities for exploration, drilling and production provided by PTDF, a demonstration training land rig with flow station rehabilitated and made functional by PTDF and the latest drilling simulators, welding and mechanical workshops.
Kachikwu, accompanied by some senior officials of the ministry including the new Executive Secretary of PTDF, Dr. Bello Aliyu Gusau, commended the Fund for the rigorous implementation of its capacity building programmes.
“I am very impressed with what they have done. It’s actually one of the agencies that you don’t need to do an audit to see where their resources are being utilised.
“I have been to some of the projects done by PTDF; I was in the University of Nigeria Nsukka,
“I was in Ahmadu Bello University Zaria, and some other places where they have been able to make a huge difference; I am extremely impressed with the work that they have done in PTI too.”
He urged the Principal of the Petroleum Training Institute, Prof. Sunny Iyuke, to adopt a maintenance re-orientation for the training institute.
He said this would attract the kind of scholarship that would help to increase the revenue generation profile of the Institution
The PTDF is mandated by law to build capacities and capabilities in Nigeria’s oil and gas industry through the development of human capacities
It also ensures institutional capacity development and the promotion of research and acquisition of relevant technologies.
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