The College of Petroleum and Energy Studies in Kaduna, owned by the Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF), will soon be operational, announced Heineken Lokpobiri, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Oil), on Tuesday.
During a facility tour of the college, located along the Kaduna-Zaria Expressway behind the Kaduna International Trade Fair Complex, Lokpobiri expressed satisfaction with the state-of-the-art facilities. The college, established in 2009, has cost over N15 billion but remains incomplete.
Accompanied by top PTDF management, Lokpobiri stated, “It is time to ensure the college becomes operational. We won’t allow it to rot away.” He emphasized that the college’s mandate to train senior officers in the oil and gas sector would save the country significant foreign exchange by reducing the need to train Nigerians abroad.
“I am waiting on the Executive Secretary to provide the relevant briefs so I can inform Mr. President and see how we can commission the facility as soon as possible. This will save us a lot of foreign exchange,” Lokpobiri said. He added that the PTDF’s mandate is to build capacity using limited resources to train people, including at the doctorate level, outside the country. With the college operational, more Nigerians can be trained domestically, still receiving the foreign certificates they need.
Lokpobiri praised the progress seen during his visit: “Today’s inspection was satisfactory because I saw more than what I was told in the briefs. I am happy I came today and that Nigerians will see this progress through various media. We need continued cooperation to complete this project and use it for its intended purpose.”
PTDF Executive Secretary Ahmad Aminu expressed readiness to commence operations, noting that 63 out of 87 awarded contracts have been completed, with the remaining 24 at various stages of completion. Completed facilities include an international conference center, residential buildings, a staff school, a student hostel, a library, a management wing, an indoor sports hall, a shopping arcade, perimeter fencing, a mosque, a chapel, dual carriageways, internal road networks, parking lots, external electrical reticulation, a 33KVA substation, an extension of the 33KVA power line, independent power generating plants, a sewage treatment plant, IT backbone and infrastructure, boreholes, a water treatment plant, and other supporting electrical and mechanical services.
Aminu outlined the college’s vision to become a world-class training institute for the energy industry in Nigeria and Africa. The National University Commission has granted a provisional license for the college to operate as a private postgraduate university, approving 19 initial programs across six departments and three faculties. PTDF is in discussions with three UK universities—University of Portsmouth, University of Strathclyde, and Robert Gordon University—to run postgraduate programs through an international joint venture approach.
Aminu also highlighted the collaborative framework developed with the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) for professional development and industry-based training. The PTDF and NNPCL have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to utilize the college’s facilities effectively. One term of the MoU includes NNPCL furnishing the 240-room international conference center, a project that is already making significant progress.
