The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Oil), Heineken Lokpobiri, announced on Tuesday that the Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF)-owned College of Petroleum and Energy Studies in Kaduna will soon become operational.

During a facility tour of the institution, Lokpobiri expressed satisfaction with the state-of-the-art facilities on the ground, noting that the college established in 2009 has so far cost over ₦15 billion.

The minister stated that with the available facilities, it is time to ensure the college becomes operational, emphasizing that the ministry will not allow the college to go to waste.

Lokpobiri explained that the college, with a mandate to train senior-level officers in the oil and gas sector, will help the country save significant foreign exchange spent on training Nigerians abroad.

He added that every year, many Nigerians are trained overseas, but with the facilities at the college, there will be no need for that.

The PTDF Executive Secretary, Ahmad Aminu, reported that 63 out of 87 contracts awarded for the college have been completed, while 24 are at various stages of completion.

Aminu also noted that the National Universities Commission has granted the college a provisional license to operate as a private postgraduate university, with 19 take-off programs across six departments and three faculties.

According to Aminu, the PTDF has initiated discussions with three reputable UK universities to run postgraduate programs at the college, and a collaborative framework has been developed with the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited for the delivery of Continuing Professional Development, Career Progression Programs, and industry-based training.