Tullow Oil Plc, in partnership with the British Council in Accra, has launched the Tullow Group Scholarship Scheme (TGSS) to annually provide scholarships to 50 Ghanaians to pursue postgraduate programmes abroad. Ten out of the 50 slots have been set aside for the six coastal districts in the Western Region bordering the Jubilee Field. The scheme, which takes off in March, this year, would benefit 110 students from other countries such as Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia, Gabon, Mauritania, Cote d’ Ivoire, French Guyana and Bangladesh. A pilot phase of the scheme began in September, 2011 with 24 Ghanaians from the public sector who were provided with funds to pursue masters programmes at leading universities in the United Kingdom. The scholarship scheme is intended to support local people to participate in the oil and gas industry and other sectors that promote economic diversification. The scheme will address both existing industry skills gaps and national capacity development requirements consistent with Tullow’s aim of supporting long-term socio-economic growth in the company’s operational areas. The British Council will manage the recruitment and selection of the candidates according to criteria agreed with Tullow. The council will receive the applications, screen them, shortlist, assess and interview the candidates. Details of the application process, beginning March 5, 2012, and eligibility criteria are available on www.tullowgroupscholarshipscheme.org. The sector minister, Dr Joe Oteng-Adjei, who launched the scheme, said “the foundation we are laying today with this launch will define the future of Ghana’s oil and gas industry”. “Since we discovered oil in commercial quantities, the issue of local capacity building has become paramount in all discussions on this resource. The conclusions in most of these discussions have been the need for Ghana to roll out policies to address this need and offer opportunities to develop a corps of Ghanaians expertise to actively participate in and manage the sector,” he said. He said there was no better way to develop Ghanaians to take over the commanding heights of the oil and gas sector than the scholarship scheme which would give true meaning to the local content in the industry. Dr Oteng-Adjei commended Tullow for the initiative, and urged other companies in the oil and gas sector to emulate such example. The Chief Executive Officer of Tullow Oil Plc, Mr Aidan Heavey, noted that building the capacity of the local people was key in the oil and gas industry. He said providing education was something that the firm believed in, hence the establishment of the scheme. “This whole scheme is about developing potential — the potential that Tullow sees around it in Africa everyday. Developing local talent for the oil industry makes good business sense for us, and it makes sense for oil-producing countries to develop talent beyond oil,” he said. The Director of the British Council, Mr Moses Anibaba, said the council would manage the placement of successful candidates and their pre-departure arrangements and provide welfare and stipend during the period when the beneficiaries would study in the various institutions in the UK and Europe. “The criteria have been designed to achieve the objective of the scheme reducing skills gaps and ensuring that the most deserving candidates are successful,” he said. The council, he said, had more than 40 years of experience in scholarship management in Ghana and sub-sahara Africa. The Vice President of External Affairs and CSR of Tullow Oil Plc, Rosalind Kainyah, said the company was also looking at strengthening local educational institutions.