ABUJA—THE federal government is to provide N360 million to six selected universities from the country’s six geo-political zones for improved technological development.
The Presidential Adviser on Petroleum and Energy, Dr Rilwanu Lukman said yesterday in Abuja that the endowment fund would be in the area of oil and gas development.
Lukman, who was speaking at the endowment of the Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF), said each of the universities would receive N60 million annually for the programme, but did not say for how long.He listed them as the University of Nigeria, Nsukka; University of Port Harcourt, University of Ibadan, University of Maiduguri, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria and Danfodio University, Sokoto.
The presidential adviser said the move was part of efforts to empower the universities to undertake research in areas that would facilitate the exploration and exploitation of petroleum resources.“The endowment will be a panacea to the dearth of qualified indigenous personnel in the nation’s oil and gas sector,’’ he said.Lukman said the endowment would also provide a good framework for funding new fields of research and serve as an interface between the institutions and various stakeholders.He added that the endowment would benefit the College of Petroleum Studies, Kaduna, designed to become a first class centre for training senior level manpower for the oil and gas industry.
Folks, Here we go again. How on earth can this government locate school of petroleum/gas technology in Kaduna? There is no single drop of oil in the north. Can someone tell us the rational for the siting of this school in the north? Why should three universities in the north get N60m a year, While only one university in each of the other three regions get N60m. each. What is going on in Nigeria? Why should political zoning be the criteria for this type of investment in education, instead of need. We need to examine the head of some of these so-called leaders in Nigeria. How long are we going to watch this injustice, and not do anything about it?
No government investment or budgetary allocation in Nigeria has been done with the aim of obtaining efficiency or for that matter, equity. Often, they have made on the basis of mischief. That explains a significant cause of our underdevelopment.
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