PTDF Deploys Fake Certificate Detection Tool for 5,000 Candidates in 2023 Scholarships 

Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja

The Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF) has said it has deployed a newly developed fake certificate detection technique to identify any fraudulent credentials that candidates may present during the screening process for the award of the 2023/2024 overseas scholarship programme.

Over 5,000 shortlisted candidates are currently being interviewed across the country by experts from the academia and the oil and gas industry, to defend their various topics and research proposals for the award of PTDF scholarships in both the M.Sc. and Ph.D. categories for studies in the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Malaysia, and China.

A statement in Abuja said the Head, Overseas Scholarship Scheme (OSS) Department of the Fund, Mrs. Bolanle Kehinde Agboola, confirmed the development while briefing panellists and other stakeholders at the commencement of the 2023/2024 selection exercise in the nation’s capital.

Agboola was quoted as saying that the fake detection mechanism was one of the fund’s deliberate policies to improve the transparency of the scholarship scheme, which had evolved over the years.

She stated that the fund had recorded instances of candidates arriving with fraudulent credentials during past exercises, which had generated a lot of concern.

“As you know the OSS has evolved over the years and based on our observations in previous exercises, we discovered some candidates coming with fake credentials.

“Because of that, this year we are able to go a step further to ensure the integrity of the exercise. We have come with some equipment that will help to a large extent curb issues of fake certificates in our selection process,” she said.

She revealed that the machine was donated by a PTDF ex-scholar who is also a panellist in the interview selection process, adding that the PTDF will continue to deploy its scholars who have done exceptionally well in their chosen fields of endeavour.

In his remarks, Prof. Abdulkadir Mukhtar of Petroleum and Gas Engineering, Federal University of Technology (FUT) Minna, a former PTDF scholar, stated that he decided to donate the detection tools as a commitment to enhancing the process and giving back to the institution that had done so much for him.