The Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF) has corrected rumors that the South-East geopolitical zone was left out of the ongoing interview process for Nigerian students applying for the Overseas Scholarship Scheme (OSS) in 2022.
The story was incorrect and misleading, according to a statement published on Thursday by Mrs Timilayefa Nwajueboe of the Press and External Relations Unit.
Nwajueboe stated that all of the many applicants from the South-East who had been successful in the early stages were now taking part in the interview process with their counterparts from other regions of the nation, and that this could be confirmed on the Fund’s website.
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According to the PTDF, at the time the issue of centers was discussed, it was the considered opinion of the management and other stakeholders that, due to the Monday sit-at-home order in the South East, candidates should be given the option of choosing from any of the other five zones across the country, rather than Enugu, including the option of a virtual interview from the comfort of their homes.
The decision, she explained, was made solely to guarantee that applicants from the zone’s mobility was not hampered by the sit-at-home order, since they would have to travel from their different states to Enugu, which had previously served as the zone’s interview hub.
The statement reads in part, “As we have stated in all our correspondences, it was not a deliberate attempt to remove South East (Enugu) as one of our interview centers for the conduct of the 2022 Overseas Scholarship Scheme (OSS) selection interview exercise. The decision to maintain five centers which include Port-Harcourt, Abuja, Bauchi, Kaduna and Ibadan instead of six, was basically due to the “sit-at-home” that might affect the mobility of our potential scholars, as was established by the Head of OSS. Candidates were also given the choice to be interviewed virtually from anywhere.
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“The candidates who indicated South-East at the time of the application process were asked to pick any convenient venue from among the five centers, which they complied with and are currently undergoing their interviews at the center of their choice.
“We have noticed the reactions to the misleading captions in the media and wish to reassure the public that our potential scholars from the South-East are among the shortlisted candidates participating in the ongoing selection interview process.”
“Names of shortlisted candidates can be found on the PTDF website @ www.ptdf.gov.ng,” the statement added.
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