Petroleum and gas varsity takes off

07.05.2008

Executive Secretary, National Universities Commission (NUC), Professor Julius Okojie, has said that the University of Petroleum and Gas, Effurun, Delta State, has admitted its pioneer students.

Okojie told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday in Abuja that the university, which was licensed last year, took off with 48 students.

He said the students resumed studies in April at the Effurun campus, near Warri. He said the university was a new institution and not the same as the Petroleum Training Institute (PTI), also based in Effurun, Warri.

Okojie said the university would award degrees while the PTI would continue with its Higher National Diploma (HND) programme. “The two institutions are located in Effurun so that they can share facilities in line with NUC’s new concept that tertiary institutions within a certain radius can maximise the use of available facilities.

“The PTI has one of the most modern learning and research facilities in petroleum and gas in the country and this comes in handy for the new university,’’ he said.

Okojie said the take-off of the city universities in Lagos and Kaduna, as offshoot of the former Yaba College of Technology and Kaduna Polytechnic respectively, was receiving attention from the authorities.