A sum of $10 million (£6.72 million) has been set aside to provide training and development opportunities for 2,569 workers in Nigeria, the Petroleum Training and Development Fund (PTDF) has announced.

According to This Day, the group's head of content Mr Usman Hindara explained 1,569 local workers had already received training in engineering design and software use.

He added that the training and development programme began in March of 2007 and will be completed by early next year.

Meanwhile, the PTDF's executive secretary Alhaji Kabir Mohammed said the new training programme would address a shortfall of skilled workers in the oil and gas industry.

"The focus of PTDF is to achieve world class human resource standard as well as the subsequent provision of quality goods and services in the oil and gas industry," he said.

Earlier this month, the group invited tender for the construction of a new petroleum training institute to be built in Kaduna.

Oil and Gas Directory: Training and Development