Overview and History of College of Petroleum and Energy Studies, Kaduna State

 
In a rapidly changing global energy landscape, the demand for skilled professionals adept in petroleum, gas, renewable energy and associated fields is growing — and Nigeria is no exception. The College of Petroleum and Energy Studies, Kaduna (commonly known by its acronym CPESK) arises as Nigeria’s strategic answer to this demand. Located along the Kaduna–Zaria Expressway in Kaduna State, CPESK is designed not simply as another tertiary institution, but as a world-class training, research and capacity-building hub for the oil, gas and wider energy industries. It aims to bridge the gap between academic knowledge and industrial application, equipping senior technical, managerial and executive personnel with the competencies to drive Nigeria’s energy sector forward. The institution is anchored in the recognition that sending large numbers of Nigerians abroad for specialised training is costly and limits domestic capacity-building. By bringing high-level postgraduate education and professional development home, CPESK aspires to localise talent development, retain human capital, and contribute to national growth. 

Moreover, CPESK’s emergence reflects Nigeria’s broader commitment to energy transition, local-content development and leveraging the intersection of academia and industry. With state-of-the-art facilities, partnerships with international universities, and a focus on research and innovation, the college seeks not only to educate, but to generate solutions for the sector’s challenges. For students, professionals and organisations alike, CPESK offers a forward-looking platform where theory meets practice, and where learning is directly tied to Nigeria’s strategic energy future.

##Official Website
The official website of the College of Petroleum and Energy Studies, Kaduna (CPESK) is https://cpesk.edu.ng/On this site you will find information about its mandate, programmes, admission guidelines, facilities, news updates and strategic partnerships. 

##Motto
While CPESK does not prominently display a one-line “motto” in the conventional sense on all their public pages, the institution articulates a vision and mission that serve the same purpose. According to its site, the vision is “to become a world-class training institute serving the needs of the energy industry in Nigeria and Africa.”

The mission is “to achieve excellence in both theoretical and practical solutions for industry training, career progression, research and development, through collaborations with reputable, international and indigenous partners in the Energy Industry and academia.” 

Thus, a paraphrased motto could be: “Developing world-class energy professionals through research, practice and industry partnership.”

##Founder
The College of Petroleum and Energy Studies, Kaduna was established by the Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF). 

The PTDF is a federal entity set up to develop human capacity in Nigeria’s petroleum sector, and it spearheads CPESK as part of its strategic mandate. While CPESK is not the typical privately-founded university with a single individual founder, the key driving institution is PTDF (and by extension the Federal Government).

##History
The story of CPESK is one of long-term vision, gradual development, and the ambition to create a flagship educational institution aligned with Nigeria’s energy sector needs. The initiative began in earnest in 2009, when the PTDF commenced physical development of the site along the Kaduna–Zaria Expressway. 

The land allocation, building works and infrastructure investment followed after the Federal Executive Council’s approval.

Originally, the project emerged from the earlier institution known as the National Centre for Petroleum Studies – Kaduna (set up by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC) and later the National Institute of Petroleum Policy & Strategy (NIPPS). 

 Over time, the PTDF was mandated to upgrade this into a fully operational postgraduate institution capable of offering MSc and PhD programmes, and to be a hub for research, training and local-content development in the petroleum sector.

However, the timeline has experienced delays. Although the physical work began in 2009, as recently as 2024/2025 the college was still being finalised for academic take-off. For example, reports in early 2025 indicated that full operations were targeted for June/July 2025. 

The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources described the facilities as being 90% complete in mid-2025. 

The motivation behind the institution: to reduce the foreign-exchange drain associated with sending Nigerian oil-and-gas personnel abroad for training, to build Nigerian capacity domestically, and to create a local world-class centre for energy education and research

In summary, CPESK stands on the shoulders of nearly two decades of planning and construction, and represents a strategic milestone in Nigerian higher education and oil-&-gas human-capacity development.

##Chancellor
Because CPESK is not (yet) a conventional university with a fully published chancellor profile, the publicly accessible leadership information centres on the PTDF Executive Secretary: Ahmed Galadima Aminu. He is the Executive Secretary of PTDF and has played a pivotal role in driving the CPESK project, including its licensing, partnerships, and facility readiness. 

Brief biography: Ahmed Galadima Aminu serves as Executive Secretary of the PTDF, overseeing human capital development programmes for Nigeria’s oil, gas and energy sector. Under his stewardship, CPESK has gained strategic partnerships with UK universities (such as the University of Strathclyde, Robert Gordon University, and University of Portsmouth) for split-site postgraduate programmes. 
His role has included ensuring that CPESK receives its provisional licence from the National Universities Commission (NUC) and supervising the build-out of an 86 hectare campus with state-of-the-art facilities. 

As the key leadership figure behind the institution’s inception and operationalisation, Aminu effectively functions in the role of steward, even if the formal “Chancellor” title might be conferred subsequently.

##Accreditation and Recognition
CPESK’s credibility is underpinned by regulatory processes and partnerships:

The National Universities Commission (NUC) has granted the institution a provisional licence to operate as a private postgraduate university offering advanced degrees. 

According to the NUC list of universities, CPESK appears with its registration year and recognition in the official list. 

Partnerships with international universities (UK-based) support split-site models and reinforce the academic recognition of its programmes. 

The institution is clearly designed in alignment with the PTDF mandate of human capacity development in petroleum and energy: the college is to provide research and training solutions geared toward the industry. 

Thus, CPESK is building its accreditation and recognition with strong foundations in national policy, regulatory approval, and industry linkage.


##Academic Structure and Facilities
CPESK is engineered to reflect a modern, specialised tertiary institution, with academic structure and physical infrastructure geared to the oil, gas and energy sectors. Below are key elements:

Academic Faculties & Departments – The college intends to start with three main faculties: for example, 

Faculty of Computing & Telecommunication Technology

Faculty of Earth & Applied Sciences

Faculty of Energy Law & Management Sciences. 


##Campus Life and Facilities
Located on a substantial land area (86 hectares) along the Kaduna–Zaria Expressway, CPESK offers an integrated campus environment. Key campus life and student-facility features include:

Residential hostels and hotel rooms on site, allowing students (especially postgraduates) to stay on-campus. 

Dining, laundry, convenience stores, mosque and chapel services for student welfare and holistic living. 

Indoor sports facilities: courts for basketball, volleyball, tennis, and outdoor football fields.

A 500-seat international conference centre and shopping arcade, offering social, academic and recreational engagement. 

Library, ICT infrastructure, and practical labs ensuring students have access to modern learning tools and research support. 

Strategic partnerships and exposure opportunities: through its partnerships with UK universities, students may engage in global research collaborations and short-stay programmes abroad.