SCHOLARSHIP: YOU CAN GET UP TO ONE MILLION NAIRA AS A NIGERIAN STUDENT UNDER PTDF. CRITERIA HERE

 

The Local Scholarship Scheme was designed to derive maximum benefit from the University Upgrade and Endowment programs of the Fund. The programme runs in 25 Nigerian universities and 4 centres of excellence. The beneficiaries of the scholarship programme are students offering oil and gas related courses. The LSS is made up of Undergraduate, Masters and PhD scholarship award.

OBJECTIVES OF LOCAL SCHOLARSHIP SCHEME

• Educating Nigerians in Oil and Gas related fields at undergraduate, Masters and PhD levels in-country to enable them to be at par with other students educated in universities abroad.
• Feedstock for the Overseas Scholarship Scheme.
• Provide support to ensure seamless interface with partnering  universities on split-site programmes
• Facilitate and provide support for development of dual accredited certification for programmes in Nigerian Universities.

POINTS TO NOTE ABOUT PTDF LOCAL SCHOLARSHIP SCHEME

• Application is restricted to Federal Universities only
• Possession of valid admission letter into the University is compulsory for all applicants.
• Postgraduate applicant’s admission letter should be within a validity period of 12 months.
• Undergraduate applicants must have completed their first year and are currently in their second year of studies.
• Only undergraduate applicants undertaking studies in oil and gas related fields will be considered.
• Admission for part-time studies shall not be considered for all category of applications.
• Selection of candidates shall be based on equitable representation of the 36 States of the Federation and Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

CRITERIA, REQUIREMENTS AND SELECTION PROCESS FOR LSS POST GRADUATE

• PTDF scholarships are highly competitive and only candidates who are outstanding across board are selected.
• Academic merit as evidenced by quality of degrees, full academic transcripts, other professional qualifications acquired and relevant publications to be referenced by applicants.
• Membership of professional bodies.
• The viability of the study/research plan (PhD applicants only).
• All applicants are required to make a case for their scholarship by submitting a statement of purpose stating the reason(s) they wish to undertake the study, the relevance of the proposed study to the industry and its expected impact on national development.

ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS

(LSS) Undergraduate

• Applicants must be full time students in any of the Federal Universities.
• Applicants must be in their second year of study.
• Course of study should be related to oil and gas industry.
• Possess 5 credits in WAEC/SSCE/NECO including English Language and Mathematics.
• Possess a minimum Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) of 3.5 on scale of 5 or 3.0 on a scale of 4 which is equivalent to 2.1 in their first year.

(LSS) MSc. Requirements for application

• Applicants must possess full time admission letter into any of the Federal Universities.
• A minimum of Second Class Upper (2.1) in an oil and gas related field or a 2.2 with a minimum working experience of 2 years in the oil and gas industry.
• Possess at least 5 credits in WAEC/SSCE/NECO results.
• National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) certificate or Letter of exemption.
• Applicants must be computer literate.
• Letter of admission into the University.
• Academic transcript.
• Evidence of state of origin and local government.
• Personal statement of a minimum of 1000(one thousand) words stating reasons for undertaking the course of study.
• Recent passport photograph.

PhD (LSS) Requirements for application

• Applicants must possess full time admission letter into any of the Federal Universities.
• A minimum of Second Class Upper (2.1) in an Oil and Gas related field or a 2.2 with a minimum working experience of 2 years in the oil and gas industry.
• Possess at least 5 credits in WAEC/SSCE/NECO results.
• National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) certificate or Letter of exemption.
• Applicants must be computer literate.
• A minimum of 2.2 in their first degree and a minimum of merit as a second-degree certificate in an oil and gas related discipline.
• Valid admission letter of not more than one year.
• Academic transcripts.
• Evidence of state of origin and local government.
• Research area must be relevant to the oil and gas industry.
• PhD research proposal of not more than 6 pages to include topic, introduction, literature review, research question(s), novelty, methodology, mode of data collection(s), expected outcome(s), relevance to the industry and appropriate references.
• Recent passport photograph.

 

SUBSCRIBE FREE TO THIS BLOG SO WE NOTIFY YOU WHEN THE FORM IS OUT

A Nigerian Pharmacist, Aloysius Anaebonam, and His Outstanding Invention

 

Generally associated with shaving, razor bump or shaving bump is a skin condition whose real cause and best method of treatment had, for many years, been a source of concern among skincare experts. One man however rose to turn the tide with his groundbreaking discovery of the biochemistry of shaving bumps formation.

Meet Dr (Pharm.) Aloysius Anaebonam, the renowned international expert on skincare and shaving bumps treatment. In 1999, he became the first scientist to correctly implicate melanin as being responsible for the higher incidence of shaving bumps in black skin.

Dr Anaebonam elucidated and published the biochemical pathways involved in shaving bumps formation and developed a comprehensive ten-product line for its resolution and prevention. He holds 12 United States pharmaceutical patents, and is a co-author of a chapter in the Encyclopedia of Pharmaceutical Technology and the Pharmaceutical Textbook, Tablets Volume II.

Dr Anaebonam has over 30 years pharmaceutical and cosmetic technology experience, including formulation development and testing, analytical method development, quality control, stability testing, process development and scale-up, manufacturing, packaging, validations, regulatory affairs and business development.

He has travelled extensively throughout the world working with top pharmaceutical and cosmetic companies in Italy, Switzerland, France, England, Germany and Japan.

Background and education

Anaebonam Aloysius Onyeabo was born on 25 June, 1955, to the family of George Nwoye Anaebonam and Maria Nneka (Ofoedu) Anaebonam, in Udi, Enugu State, Nigeria. His father, George, commonly referred to as “Akunne” or “Otutu Abagana”, was a well treasured member of his community. He served as the private secretary to the military governor of Eastern Nigeria, Lt. Col. Ojukwu, from February 1966, till the end of the civil war. He also served as the secretary to several local governments in eastern Nigeria at different times before retiring as the deputy permanent secretary of the Ministry of Works, Enugu State, in 1984.

Dr Anaebonam was an exceptional student with a great flair for the sciences. He gained admission in 1973 to study Pharmacy at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, and obtained his Bachelor of Pharmacy degree with first class honours in 1978. He then relocated to the United States in 1980 for further studies and soon obtained his master’s and Doctor of Philosophy degrees in Industrial Pharmacy from the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy, Boston Massachusetts, in 1983 and 1986 respectively.

 

Career

Dr Anaebonam started his career as a research scientist at Pfeiffer Pharmaceutical Science Laboratories, Boston, from 1981 to 1986. After his doctoral studies, he worked as product development scientist at Fisons Corporation, Bedford, Massachusetts, from 1986 to 1989. He was later promoted to the position of manager pharmaceutical development, Fisons Corporation in Rochester, New York, a position he held from 1989 to 1991.

Dr Anaebonam moved to Ascent Pharmaceuticals, Inc., now known as Ascent Paediatrics, in Billerica, Massachusetts, in 1991.  He served as the director of product development and quality control from 1991 to 1994, before being promoted to the position of assistant vice president, product development and quality control, from 1994 to 1996.

In 1996, Anaebonam rose to the position of vice president, product development and quality control, Ascent Paediatrics, Wilmington, Massachusetts. He has been working in this capacity since then. He is also a pharmaceutical and biotechnology consultant assisting start-up companies in drug development, testing, pre-submission reviews and provision of turnkey services for the costing and layout of new pharma and biotech production and testing facilities.

Dr Anaebonam is founder and CEO of BREEJ Technologies, Incorporated, a company that develops and markets the world’s most advanced bump treatment system for skin problems. Established in 1999, BREEJ Technologies also develops and markets advanced personal care products for people of colour worldwide.

Path to prominence

Dr Anaebonam was the first scientist to disagree with the widely held view that shaving bumps are caused by “in-grown” hairs – wiry, curly hairs that curl and grow back into the skin. Ingrown hairs or, more appropriately, entrapped hairs, result when existing shaving bumps block the opening of the hair follicles on the skin, forcing the normally growing hairs to grow into the existing bumps.

Dr Anaebonam postulated that “shaving bumps are primarily caused by the trauma from shaving, resulting in inflammation of the shaved area manifested as ‘bumps’ as the body reacts to the trauma, compounded at times by bacterial/fungal infections. Induction of melanogenesis by irritated keratinocytes during shaving produces additional inflammatory mediators exacerbating the condition. This is the main reason why black people with higher levels of melanin, have a higher incidence of shaving bumps.”

 

In June 2007, Dr Anaebonam published the definitive paper on the real cause and treatment for shaving bumps, titled “A New Hypothesis for the Cause and Treatment for Pseudofolliculitis Barbae”. Later that year, he presented a paper titled “Shaving Bumps Impact on the Premature Aging of Black Skin” where he linked shaving bumps to premature skin ageing in black people at the cosmeceuticals summit in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, (February 21 to 22, 2007).

Recently, he published an article on shaving bumps – “Pseudofolliculitis Barbae (Shaving Bumps); Ingrown Hairs – Real Cause, Treatment & why Black Men are Disproportionately Affected – Sofw Journal, Thannhausen Germany, Vol 144; March 2018.

Affiliations and achievements

Dr Anaebonam is a member of many notable academic and professional societies, including the American Association of Pharmaceutical Science, the Rho Chi Society, and the Beta Simga Society, University of Nigeria, Nsukka where he served as governor from 1976-1977. He was also the chairman of the New England Chapter of the United States Society of Cosmetic Chemists (1994, 1999, 2009).

Dr Anaebonam holds patents for stabilization of pentamidine isethionate solutions, calcium polycarbophil sprinkles, terfenadine oral powder, and extended release acetaminophen particles among others.

Dr Anaebonam is happily married to Nneka Chinyere Esimai Anaebonam.

Do You Know That The World's Fastest Computer Was Invented by a Nigerian ? Find details here

Ever heard of the world’s fastest and most efficient computer? It was actually invented by a Nigerian, by name, Dr. Philip Emeagwali. Dr. Emeagwali carefully studied the efficient ways in which bees communicate and build honeycombs and decided to create a computer that could work  that way.

The result was that he successfully combined 65,000 processors to invent the world’s fastest the computer, which performs computations at 3.1 billion calculations per second. Today, Dr. Philip Emeagwali’s invention is applied in weather forecasting supercomputers as well as computers which can predict global warming.

 

Philip Emeagwali (born 23 August 1954) is a Nigerian computer scientist.  He won the 1989 Gordon Bell Prize for price-performance in high-performance computing applications, in an oil reservoir modeling calculation using a novel mathematical formulation and implementation.

Biography

Philip Emeagwali was born in Akure, Nigeria on 23 August 1954. He was raised in Onitsha in the South Eastern part of Nigeria. His early schooling was suspended in 1967 as a result of the Nigerian Civil War. At 13 years, he served in the Biafran army. After the war he completed high-school equivalence through self-study.

He is married to Dale Brown Emeagwali, a noted African-American microbiologist.

Education

He traveled to the United States to study under a scholarship following completion of a correspondence course at the University of London. He received a bachelor's degree in mathematics from Oregon State University in 1977. He later moved to Washington D.C., receiving in 1986 a master's degree from George Washington University in ocean and marine engineering, and a second master's in applied mathematics from the University of Maryland. Next magazine suggested that Emeagwali claimed to have further degrees. During this time, he worked as a civil engineer at the Bureau of Land Reclamation in Wyoming.

Court case and the denial of degree

Emeagwali studied for a Ph.D. degree from the University of Michigan from 1987 through 1991. His thesis was not accepted by a committee of internal and external examiners and thus he was not awarded the degree. Emeagwali filed a court challenge, stating that the decision was a violation of his civil rights and that the university had discriminated against him in several ways because of his race. The court challenge was dismissed, as was an appeal to the Michigan state Court of Appeals.

Supercomputing

Emeagwali received the 1989 Gordon Bell Prize for an application of the CM-2 massively-parallel computer. The application used computational fluid dynamics for oil-reservoir modeling. He received a prize in "price/performance" category, with a performance figure of about 400 Mflops/$1M. The winner in the "performance" category, was also the winner of the Price/performance category, but unable to receive two prizes. Mobil Research and Thinking Machines, used the CM-2 for seismic data processing and achieved the higher ratio of 500 Mflops/$1M. The judges decided on one award per entry. His method involved each microprocessor communicating with six neighbors

Emeagwali's simulation was the first program to apply a pseudo-time approach to reservoir modeling.

Accolades

Price/performance–1989 Gordon Bell Prize, IEEE ($1,000 prize)

New African "35th-greatest African (and greatest African scientist) of all time

He was cited by Bill Clinton as an example of what Nigerians can achieve when given the opportunity and is frequently featured in popular press articles for Black History Month.

 

Selected publications

Emeagwali, P. (2003). How do we reverse the brain drain. speech given at

Emeagwali, P. (1997). Can Nigeria leapfrog into the information age. In World Igbo Congress. New York: August. 

FOUR WAYS I CAN HELP MAKE YOUR SECONDARY SCHOOL STAND OUT

 

1. SCIENCE PRACTICALS: Nigerian schools have deficiency in practicals and it affects the quality of Doctors, Engineers, and Scientists we produce. Is your school new? I can get a very little amount of money from you and buy apparatus for Chemistry, Physics, and Biology Practicals. Design experiments you can start with then with time you keep buying other apparatus till you have everything that is stipulated by the regulatory bodies. For old schools, I can come around on contract to cordinate and execute science practicals.

 

2. ICT: This is the bedrock of modern day career. There is ICT in every discipline now. I can come around and help you set-up your ICT Lab, with a system or two - to start with. You will upgrade with time. If you are running WAEC Syllabus you will need MS Office, Graphics Suites, and BASIC Programming software. If you are running NABTEB Syllabus you will need the above tools. The only difference is that you will substitute AutoCAD for BASIC. I can assist your school to cordinate this.

 

3. BASIC TECHNOLOGY WORKSHOP: All professionals would end up using tools and equipment and this has made BST compulsory in our secondary schools. I can get very little amount of money from you to set-up a workshop. This workshop will expose your students to practicals in the area of technology. You will save cost of maintenance as the students would be the ones to handle minor repairs, services and products for you.

 

4. JETS Club: Junior Engineers, Technicians and Scientists club is one club I can help setup in your school. The students in schools i've assisted so far keep rolling out testimonies.

 

Make your school outstanding today. Let me give you the Technical support. 07037263653 (Odfid Technical Services ... Ensuring competence).

 

 

AMAZING VALUE OF COCONUT OIL

 

Characterization of Coconut Oil

Synonyms: Copra oil, Oleum Cocois (Harry, 1963). Coconut oil is edible oil extracted from the kennel of matured coconuts harvested from the coconuts palms (Cocos nucifera). It has various applications in food, medicine, and industry. Because of its high saturated fat content it is slow to oxide and, thus, resistant to rancidification, lasting up to two years without spoiling. (Fife, 2005)

The following is average fatty acid composition of Coconut oil – saturated acids: Caproic acid (0.2%), Caprylic acid (8.0%), Capric acid (7.0%), lauric acid (48.0%),  Mystric acid (17.5%) palmitic acid (8.8%) and Stearic acid (2.0%) Unsaturated acids: Oleic acid (6.0%) and linoleic acid (2.5%). Coconut oil occurs as white semi-solid, lard-lime fat readily becomes rancid on exposure to air. It is sometimes hydrogenated to improve its stability. Coconut oil melts at 21⁰C to 25⁰C, and has the following characteristics: Saponification value (251 to 264), Iodine Value 8 to 10), Refractive index at 40⁰C (1,44-5), Acid value (not greater than 6) (Harry, 1.63).

 

Coconut oil in Food

Coconut oil is commonly used in cooking, especially for frying, and is a common flavour in many south Asian curries. It has been used for cooking (in tropical parts of the world ) for thousand of years (clark, 2011) coconut oil (along with lauric leaf oil and palm kernel oil) contains a large proportion of lauric acid which is converted to monolaurin in the body,a fat otherwise found only in breast milk.(Beare-Roggers  et.al,2001) Lauric acid is destroyed by some oil processing method .

Other culinary uses including solid fats produced through hydrogenation in backed and confectionery good (Tarrago- Trani et.al, 2006) hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated coconut oil is often used in non-dairy creamers and snack, food, including popcorn. The smoke point of coconut oil is 177⁰C (351⁰F). (Katragadda et.al, 2010)

Coconut oil industry

Coconut oil has tested for use as feedstock for biodiesel to be used as a diesel engine fuel. In this manner, it can be applied to power generators and transport using diesel engines.  Since straight coconut oil has a high gelling temperature (22-25 ⁰C), a high viscosity, and a minimum combustion chamber  temperature of 500 ⁰C (932 ^OF) (to avoid polymerization of the fuel), coconut oil typically is transesterified to make biodiesel. Use of B 100 (100% biodiesel) is possible only in temperate climates, as the gel point is approximately 10 ^o C (50^oF) . The oil must meet the Weihenstephan  standard for pure vegetable oil used as a fuel otherwise  moderate to severe   damage  from  carbonization and  clogging  will  occur in  an unmodified  engine. The Philippines, vanuata,  samoa,  and several other  tropical  island  countries  are  using coconut  oil as an  alternative  fuel  source  to run automobiles,  trucks  and  buses,  and  to power  generators.  Coconut oil  is currently used as a fuel  for  transport  in  the Philippines  further  research  into  the  potential of coconut  oil as a fuel  for electricity generation is being carried out in the islands of the pacific. Although to date it appear that it is not useful as a fuel source due to the cost of labour and supply constraints.(AGTD, 2011)

Coconut oil can be used as an engine lubricant and as transformer oil. Acids derived from coconut can be used as herbicides. (James and Rahman, 2005)

Coconut oil can be used as a skin moisturizer, helping with dry skin and reduces protein loss when used in hair. Before the advent of electrical lighting ,coconut oil was the primary oil used  for illumination in india and was exported as cochin oil.(Brady,2020)

 

Coconut oil is an important base ingredient for the manufacture of soap. Soap made with coconut oil tends to be hard, although it retains more water than those made with other oils and therefore increases manufacturer yields. It is more soluble in hard water and salt water than other soaps allowing it to lather more easily. A basic coconut oil soap is clear when melted and a bright white when hardened. (Browning, 2003)

Source: Oduok, I. F. (2015): Industrial Characteristics of Palm Oil-Coconut Oil Blend and Its Application in The Production of Toilet Soap. B.Eng. Research Work. University of Uyo. Nigeria. Pp. 7 - 10

 

 

 

 

 

PRODUCTS AND DERIVATIVES FROM VEGETABLE OILS

 

 

We have broadly three sources of oils - petroleum, animal, and vegetable.

 

By vegetable oil I am referring to oils gotten from plant sources. Examples include palm oil, coconut oil, palm kernel oil, avocado oil, jojoba oil, olive oil, corn oil, jatropha oil, peanut oil, orange pill oil, star apple seed oil etc.

 

Some of these oils are edible others are not but the good thing is that all the oils are extremely useful in various fields of human endeavour. The oils have application in pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, and confectionary.

 

A few of the industrial application of vegetable oils are highlighted in this write-up:

 

1.    In Fuel Production: edible and non-edible type, fresh and waste stock of vegetable oils are converted to diesel for driving of vehicles and powering of generators. It smokes less and has favouravle cetane value.

 

2.    In Oil Paint Production: Acrylic serves as binder in water paint while alkyd resyd performs the same function in oil paint. Alkyd resyd is obtained by modifying vegetable oils using readily available chemical feedstock.

 

3.    Drilling Mud Production: The two popular broad categories of drilling mud used in petroleum and water borehole drilling are water based and oil based mud. Water based though environmentally friendly has its drawback as it is not suitable for high temperature well formation. An alternative to it has been oil based mud using Diesel as carrier. With heightened environmental concern of diesel based mud, vegetable oil based mud has proven to be a candidate of choice.

 

4.    Detergent Feedstock: Detergent technology has been evolving over the years with linear akylbenzene sulphonate (LAS) being the choice candidate as a result of it biodegradability. LAS can be obtained by sulphonation of vegetable oil at appropriate process conditions.

 

The benefits of vegetable oil are great and the list appears to be endless.

 

Id Oduok is a Graduate Student of Chemical Engineering, specializing in Process Design. His research interest is Industrial Application of Vegetable Oils. A field he has been working on since his undergraduate research. He covers extraction, characterization, refining, and utilization of various vegetable oils. He also designs, simulate, model, and builds pilot scale equipment/plants in this field of interest.

 

Follow him on odfidtechnicalworld.blogspot.com. Also on academia.edu.ng/idoduok. Visit his Technical Center in Eket, Akwa Ibom State. Nigeria

 

REVISION FOR WASSCE BIOLOGY PRACTICAL

 

To prepare candidates for Monday, 31st August, 2020 WASSCE Biology Practical, I wish to highlight these areas that will enable them make outstanding result without cheating.

 

The areas you should work on are diffusion, test for classes of food, soil analysis, fruits and seeds, classification of living organism.

 

Placentation

 

Placentation is the arrangement of the ovules within the ovary. These ovules are attached to the ovary by fleshly structures called placentae (singular-placenta) through short stalks called funicles.

 

Types of placentation

 

a. Marginal placentation: In marginal placentation, the ovules are attached to the placenta along one margin of the ovary. Examples can be found in beans, cowpea, pride of Barbados.

b. Parietal placentation: In this arrangement, the ovules are attached to the slides of a syncarpous ovary having a single chamber e.g. pawpaw.

c. Axile placentation: In axile placentation, the carpels of syncarpous ovary meet in the centre to form the placenta which the ovules are attached e.g. Tomato

HOW TO PREPARE A BILL OF MATERIAL (QUOTATION)

 

Before attempting to construct a project of your own design, you should prepare a job plan. A job plan generally includes the following items:

1. A working drawing of the project. This is a carefully sketched freehand drawing.

2. A bill of materials.

3. A list of tools and equipment needed.

4. A list of the steps of procedure, in proper order, for making the project.

5. Approval before making the project (if required).

 

When you prepare a plan for a project which you are planning to carry out, you use the same procedure that is used in the metal industry. In the industry, every product to be made must be planned out in a working drawing form. Working drawings must be made for each part of each product. The proper material must be selected for each part, and the cost must be analyzed. Tools, machinery and equipment must be provided. The procedure must be carefully analyzed for most economical production. Your job plan, therefore, involves some of the kinds of things which are performed by manufacturing engineers, industrial technicians and skilled workers.

 

A job plan is, therefore, a comprehensive list of materials needed for a project, step-by-step procedure for making the project, the details of the worker's personal data, tools, and equipment needed for the project.

 

A bill of materials is the comprehensive list of all the materials that you will need to complete a project. This list includes bolts, screws, nuts, and washers that have uniform sizes and shapes. It may be useful to refer to a catalogue to get the sizes and types.

 

The bill of materials should be made up as follows:

 

1. The parts (identifies by number or letters).

2. The number of pieces needed for each.

3. The size of the material.

4. The shape and kind of material.

5. The unit cost of the material.

6. The total cost of the object.

 

Things to remember when preparing the bill of materials

 

1. The stock i.e. the raw (rough) materials you need to buy for the project.

2. Decide the shape of the stock you need and buy same.

3. The size given on the bill of materials, i.e. the size of the rough metal you will buy, including the waste to be cut off.

4. The size given on the working drawing, i.e. the finished size.

5. Sizes of materials (stock) are given as follows:

a. Flat piece of metal: thickness x width x length

b. Square piece of metal: thickness x width x length

c. Round piece of metal: diameter x length

d. Hexagonal piece of metal: distance across flat sides x length

 

Part No.	No. of Pieces	Size			Material (Type)	Unit Cost	Total Cost
		Thickness	Width	Length