By TINA TIMOTHY

The Abia Media Forum has expressed shock and disappointment over the decision of the Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF) to exclude the people of South-East from scholarships as it claimed interviews could not be held in the region due to insecurity.

The group also considers as ‘tendentious and ridiculous’ PTDF’s claim that the North-West and the North-East were more secure than the South-East.

In a statement issued on Monday, May 29, 2022 and signed by its Chairman, Ben Okezie, and Secretary, Kelechi Ogbamgba, the group also calls on ‘Nigerians of good conscience’ to pitch in and support their request that PTDF interviews be conducted in the South-East region as in other regions such as the North Central, South-South, South-West, Kaduna North-West and Bauchi North-East.

The statement reads: “PTDF should reverse its unjustifiable exclusion of the South-East from scholarships.”

“The Abia Media Forum calls on Nigerians of good conscience to join us in our request that the Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF) stops its injustice and insult on the people of the South-East excluded from the lucrative PTDF scholarships and come to the region to do its interviews, as it did for other regions.

“The Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF) shocked rational and fair-minded Nigerians last week with its claim that it could not hold interviews for its scholarships in the South-East but did so successfully in the North-East and North-West.

“PTDF instead offers persons from the South-East the opportunity to attend those interviews outside their geopolitical zone.

“The Abia Media Forum is convinced that the PTDF can and should rise to the constitutional and professional obligation to treat all sections of the country fairly and equitably.

“The Abia Media Forum invites PTDF management to apply Section 2 of the Nigerian Constitution which directs all agencies of government to enforce the Fundamental Objectives and Directive Principles of State Policy. In this case, PTDF must ensure via sub-section 10 that “There should not be any discrimination on the grounds of place of origin, sex (gender), religion, status, ethnic or linguistic ties.”

“PTDF is duty-bound to conduct the Overseas Scholarship Scheme interviews in a location in the South-East as it has done for other regions.

“PTDF said it received 26, 000 applications and shortlisted over 8,000. The PTDF OSS is an annual programme that awards scholarships to Nigerians for M.Sc and Ph.D studies in partner with universities in the United Kingdom, Germany, France, China, and Malaysia.

“PTDF would hold interviews for its Overseas Scholarship Scheme in Abuja (North Central), Port Harcourt (South-South), Ibadan (South-West), Kaduna (North-West) and Bauchi (North-East), according to Mr. Bello Mustapha, Manager of the OSS.

“The Abia Media Forum considers the PTDF claim that the North-West and the North-East are more secure than the South-East, both tendentious and ridiculous as it flies in the face of Nigeria’s current history. Pray, was it not in Kaduna that terrorists bombed a train and took over several communities? Is Kaduna not the location that citizens can hardly reach again through the connecting road to other towns such as Abuja? “Go to the South-East, PTDF”.