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President of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) Comrade Festus Osifo, has said he is optimistic that the College of Petroleum and Energy Studies, Kaduna (CPESK) which is set to commence academic programme by September this year, will birth research based solutions to myriad of challenges facing the oil and gas industry.
Osifo, gave his views when he led a delegation to inspect the CPESK facility in Kaduna state, built by the management of Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF).
The CPESK is set to kick off academic programmes with PhD, following successful screening of over 2000 applicants.
The PENGASSAN President described the College as “another Harvard being built in Nigeria” and further described the institution as a practical example of advancing local content in Nigeria.
Osifo, who noted that with the establishment of CPESK, more indigenous oil and gas workers would be able to access world-class training as the funding gaps for foreign training would be bridged, stressed the need for research on areas that are affecting the Nigerian oil and gas industry.
He said: “We came here with high expectations, but coming here this afternoon, as we were driving in, we thought that we were entering the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). It’s really a kind of structure that you can find anywhere in the world.
“People are commencing PhD here by September. The area of research should be areas that will clearly impact the Nigerian oil and gas industry; they should carry out research on areas that are affecting the industry.
“For example, oil theft could be an area of research, and corporate theft in the Niger Delta could be an area of research. We could pick how to mitigate against environmental degradation as it’s happening today in the Niger Delta.
“It could be an area of research. So when the result comes up, it is easier for the industry to adopt them and to implement. That is what is happening all over the world.
“Silicon Valley is thriving today because there are institutions that are built around the Silicon Valley area that are supplying the human capital resources and also are carrying out research that is helping solve today’s problems. So all we don’t want is to let the research not be outdated, let they be research that is affecting today.
“But knowing PTDF, we know very well that all the PhD students we have sponsored before now, even to different parts of the world, have actually been responsible for solving some of the industry problems and industry challenges.”
On the impact of CPESK on providing post-graduate opportunities to more Nigerians, Osifo said: “Let’s assume you have N20 million to send two people abroad, but with that same money, you could send maybe 10 people to this college and they would have the same quality of education they could have gotten abroad here.
“What that means is that we are reaching out to more Nigerians. We can’t equate anything to capacity building and human capital development because the development of any nation is as strong and as solid as the human capital such country has. So for us, we are totally excited to be part of this.”
The PENGASSAN President commended the current leadership of the PTDF for completing the CPESK, which commenced in 2013, and for sustaining its hallmark of excellence, exemplary leadership.
“We know the standards that PTDF has set over the years. “This is one institution in Nigeria that has been exemplary. It has demonstrated the fact that we can truly deliver service to the Nigerian people. This is one of such examples that we are witnessing here today.
“This building was started in 2013, and this is one of the things that, for us at the Oil and Gas, it’s also the fact that we are demonstrating that we don’t abandon projects. When we put our heart into something, irrespective of challenges, we will deliver. It is also a practical demonstration of local content.”
Ahmed Galadima Aminu, Executive Secretary of the Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF,) disclosed that already, over 2000 applicants have applied and screened to run PhD programmes once it opens its doors to the public in September 2025.
Aminu, who disclosed that over 15,000 Nigerians have been sponsored by the PTDF for training abroad, explained that the dynamics of sponsoring oil workers abroad at huge cost to the country informed the setting up of the college.
He maintained that CPESK could pass for the Silicon Valley abroad, going by its course contents and strategic international partnership with three UK universities: University of Strathclyde, Robert Gordon University and University of Portsmouth.
According to him, the College was licensed by the National Universities Commission (NUC) as a private postgraduate institution to offer 19 academic programmes across 6 departments and 3 faculties.
“I am pleased to inform you that the CPESK will admit its first cohort of PhD students in September 2025. We have just concluded the screening of applications, and successful candidates will soon be admitted into the following faculties: the Faculty of Computing and Telecommunication Technology
Faculty of Earth and Applied Sciences, Faculty of Energy Law and Management Sciences.
“These partnerships already secured will support the delivery of a split-site postgraduate model, where students will primarily study at CPESK in Kaduna, with short academic stays at the partner universities in the United Kingdom.”
The Institution, which is under the purview of the Petroleum Technology Development Fund, was established by Act No. 25 of 1973, amended in 1999, to build human and institutional capacity for Nigeria’s oil, gas, and energy sector players.
