The Minister of State, Petroleum Resources, Dr Ibe Kachikwu has praised the quality of training facilities at the Petroleum Training Institute, Effurun, Delta State, saying there is the need to provide opportunities for Nigerians to get jobs in the oil and gas industry.
The Minister, who commended PTDF for providing quality facilities for the training of Nigerians for the petroleum industry, said he has been impressed with what he has seen at PTI, University of Nigeria, Nnsuka, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria and other training institutions across the country.
He explained that part of the means to realising the objective of self funding by the agencies will be to relate the commercial realities with the functionality of the training programmes offered by the training institute and the Petroleum Technology Development Fund.
He said: “I know how much money we spend in NNPC just to refurbish tanks everywhere, and not just the NNPC but the entire downstream industry, if we had a training programme with the facilities to do those, not only could you train, but individuals could actually take work from the sector to try and grow, and so looking at how to generate income to sustain the place is key.
“The Federal Government is not going to continue to be sending you yearly disbursements in perpetuity; it’s never going to work. So a major challenge is to identify those areas where you will have a big commercial nexus both for the upstream and downstream sectors of the industry”.
Facilities inspected by the Minister include an ultra-modern laboratory complex, a one stop laboratory for research and training in diverse areas of onshore and offshore operations as well as in exploration, drilling and production provided by PTDF; a demonstration training land rig with flow station rehabilitated and made functional by PTDF, in addition to the latest drilling simulators, welding and mechanical workshops.
A statement by the Fund’s Head Press and External Relations, Kalu Otisi said the Minister who was accompanied by some senior officials of the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, the new Executive Secretary of PTDF, Dr. Bello Aliyu Gusau, Director DPR, Mr. Mordecai Ladan and the Principal and management staff of PTI, commended the Fund for the rigorous implementation of its capacity building programmes particularly the upgrade of oil and gas institutions and departments in universities.
“I am very impressed with what they have done. It’s actually one of the agencies that you don’t need to do an audit to see where their resources are being utilized. I have been to some of the projects done by PTDF, I was in the University of Nigeria Nsukka, I was in Ahmadu Bello University Zaria, and some other places where they have been able to make a huge difference, I am extremely impressed with the work that they have done in PTI too”, Kachikwu stated.
He urged the Principal of the Petroleum Training Institute, Professor Sunny Iyuke to adopt a maintenance re-orientation for the training institute in order to attract the kind of scholarship that will help increase the revenue generation profile of the Institution.
The Petroleum Training Institute, Effurum, was established in 1973 by the Federal Government as a requirement for membership of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). With the massive upgrade by PTDF, it is expected to become a leading oil and gas training institute with the mandate of producing middle level manpower that will bridge the gap of foreign domination of the industry.
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