The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Gas) Hon. Ekperikpe Ekpo has said that the College of Petroleum and Energy Studies, Kaduna (CPESK), is ready for commissioning by President Bola Tinubu. Ekpo stated this on Friday after inspecting facilities at the college.
He said he was impressed by the state of the art facilities in the college, describing them as “world standard”.
“I am impressed with what I have seen in this place. So kudos to the Executive Secretary of PTDF and his team.
“From the look of things, I want to believe the place is ready for commissioning. We should not continue to delay any longer”, the minister said.
He said, “Under the present administration, everything should be done within speed so that we move and restore the hope of Nigerians that the President has been promising since assumption of office.”
He, however, advised the institution to consider the use of gas in generating electricity and reduce the high use of diesel.
Ekpo said, “In this era of energy transition, we should play down on utilisation of diesel and move to gas”.
He urged the PTDF to liaise with the Energy Commission and Rural Electrification Agency (REA) to see how solar power could be provided to assist the college.
He noted that from explanations by the Executive Secretary of the PTDF, the college will promote local content and save the country
a lot of foreign exchange spent on training abroad.
“This place is world standard from what I have seen. The international conference centre, the library – it gives me hope that Nigeria is heading somewhere…” he said.
According to him, Nigeria has the
highest quantity of gas in Africa stressing that “this will help to take us from the level we are today to another level. We need to be decisive in what we are doing.
“I want us to continue and make sure this place is commissioned by Mr. President very soon so that we start academic activities by 2025 to add value to our country, “he emphasised.
Earlier, while briefing the minister, the Executive Secretary of the PTDF, Mr. Ahmed Aminu, explained that CPESK was established by the PTDF to train senior technical, management, and executive personnel for Nigeria’s energy sector in collaboration with reputable local and international institutions.
He said the college will serve as one of the vehicles for domestication of PTDF’s capacity-building programmes.
According to him, CPESK is licensed by the National Universities Commission (NUC) to operate as a private postgraduate institution to offer 19 postgraduate programmes across 3 faculties and 6 departments.
