PTDF Non-Payment Of Allowances: Nigerian PhD Students Petition PMB

Nigerian Students on the aegis of Ph.D Students in the United Kingdom (UK) Universities have sent a ‘save our souls’ message to the Federal Government over the refusal of the Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF) to pay their extension allowances running to more than six months.
The students said that some of them are turning to beggars to survive in the foreign land due to non-payment of their allowances.
In a petition addressed to President Muhammadu Buhari, the students said several complaints to the current leadership of PTDF led by Dr Bello Aliyu Gusau have landed on deaf ears and therefore appealed to President Buhari to intervene to enable them complete their programmes and return home.
The PhD students noted that firms involved in accommodating and feeding them have threatened to take them to court, a development that may greatly dent the image of the country if the threats are carried out.

The students therefore appealed to President Buhari to set up an inquiry to investigate the veracity of their claims as part of efforts to bring the Executive Secretary to order and close the communication gap between them and the management of PTDF.
They said their letter of admission from their universities stated that the PhD programme will last for four years with additional one-year extension, adding that the award letter given to each of the PhD students by the PTDF indicated that the scholarship covers accommodation, feeding and utilities for the period of 36 months with 12 months extension period due to the nature of the programme.
The students further said that majority of them that started the programme in 2016 were not able to finish the programme within three years, adding that PhD programme is a step by step process.

Parts of the petition to the president reads; “Each PhD student is expected to produce and present an interim assessment report at the end of first year which will be used by the examiners to access the student and internal evaluation report at the end of second year which will be used by external and internal examiners to decide whether the student should proceed or not to proceed to the third year.
“If the examiners are satisfied with the report and the progress, they will allow the student to continue and if they are not satisfied, the student will not continue with the research. The third-year is mostly used for designing data collection instrument, data collection, data analysis while the fourth year is generally for the writing of the thesis.
“With this step by step process, it is almost impossible for many of the students to finish such a programme in three years without any challenge. There are unforeseen circumstances that can arise like a change of supervisor, lack of access to the data required for the research, health issues and shortage of resources because most of the time, our allowances were paid three months late which distract us from our studies because we cannot study with an empty stomach.”
The students also said that several letters written as individuals, group and their universities’ supervisors to the Executive Secretary of PTDF requesting for the payment of allowances to cover the one-year extension period since November 2018 have fallen on deaf ears.
They said the development has led many of them to be passing through difficulties whereby they cannot buy food, pay their rents, electricity, water and gas bills.