The Petroleum Technology Development Fund, PTDF’s huge investments in upgrading and developing institutions in the Niger Delta region are aimed at addressing the challenges of human capital development in the region.
Executive secretary of the fund, Dr Oluwole Oluleye said this in his presentation at the third practical Nigerian Content Forum and Road Show on community engagement and collaboration organised by the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board in collaboration with PTDF.
In a release signed by Kalu Otisi, head of Press and External Relations, Oluleye listed some of the interventions in the Niger Delta region to include establishment of National Centre for Skills Development and Training in Port Harcourt, Rivers State; establishment of Federal Polytechnic of Oil and Gas, Ekowe, Bayelsa State; development of Federal Polytechnic Bonny, Rivers State, and upgrade of Petroleum Training Institute Effurun, Delta State.
The executive secretary said PTDF being a member of the Post Amnesty Rehabilitation Committee, introduced specialised trainings programmes in which hundreds of Niger Delta youths are currently pursuing undergraduate studies in Malaysia, China and Norway while others are undergoing vocational trainings such as helicopter piloting and air surveillance in South Africa.
One hundred others, he said, have completed their city and guild certified vocational skills training in Cotonou, Benin Republic.
The aim, according to the executive secretary, is to develop their intellectual base and technical capabilities by attracting international certifications after their training in order to be accepted globally.
On collaboration and community engagement, Oluleye disclosed that PTDF had done its part to develop the manpower needed to drive the local content initiative in line with its mandate.
What is required, he said, is a unified stakeholder approach that will ensure their full integration and engagement into the industry.
“PTDF is the lead agency of government charged with the responsibility of developing human capacities in the Nigerian oil and gas industry. We have been efficiently doing that but this will be more effective if other industry players collaborate with us.”
He said PTDF had trained a lot of Nigerians that needed to be engaged by the industry.
“There is therefore a need for stakeholders to partner and address this issue because if we keep building capacity that is not engaged in the industry particularly in the Niger Delta Region we will continue to face the problem of youth restiveness in host communities resulting in revenue losses.”
He said a database of all PTDF scholars including their areas of specializations was being put together for delivery to NCMDB for the purpose of facilitating their engagement by international oil companies.
In another development, PTDF says it is seeking to strengthen its existing organisational collaboration with the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board, NCDMB, to promote inter-industry synergy that will drive the local content and capacity building initiatives in the oil and gas.
Oluleye, who was at the headquarters of the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board in Yenagoe, Bayelsa State, on a courtesy visit, said industry partnership was the best approach in realising the objective of the Nigerian content initiative with regard to human capital development.
Dr Oluwole informed the executive secretary of the board, Engineer Ernest Nwapa that he intends re-invigorating the existing relationship between the two agencies to effectively deliver on the objectives of capacity building and local content development.
“I observe that in the past there was a thriving relationship between NCMDB and PTDF. It appears at some period it petered-off resulting in the creation of a gap in our relationship. That gap must be bridged since we work for the same government with the common objective of promoting Nigeria’s participation in the oil and gas industry. So what i want is for us to continue the relationship that had existed, and explore other ways of improving on that. I observe that PTDF does not have any form of relationship with the oil companies, and we thought that since you have that relationship we can utilize it to the benefit of our scholars.”
The PTDF executive secretary suggested the formation of a committee that will map out areas of collaboration that will enable the two agencies to take joint decisions on matters related to their mandate.
In his response, Engineer Nwapa thanked the executive secretary for visiting the headquarters of the board and assured him of his determination to continue with the partnership with PTDF in the spirit of collaboration and overall development.
He said that the relationship between the two government organisations had been quite successful, especially on collaborations that resulted in the upgrade of the Nigerian Institute of Welding, NIW, for international certification.
“We have collaborated on several issues, we recognize the importance of sister organizations working together because synergy like its pointed out is a key. We all work for the same government, what has happened over the past few months is that sometimes priority drives the organization’s direction and then distance also reduces the frequency of our interaction, but there’s no reason why we cannot begin to join forces again because at the end of the day what we want is progress of the country.”
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