Chineme Okafor in Abuja
The Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF) has disclosed that some indigenous oil service companies have started engaging the services of Nigerian welders trained by the capacity building institute for the implementation of their oil and gas service contracts.
It explained in a recent statement by its Head, Press and External Relations, Mr. Kalu Otisi, in Abuja, that this followed the exposure it gave to the welders to improve on their skills and competencies.
The skills and competence programme to the welders, it added were obtained from the Post Training Attachment (PTA) programme – a practical on-the-job internship scheme that prepares beneficiaries for absorption into the industry, which it organised for them.
According to the PTDF, the PTA programme was still on-going in the three refineries owned and operated by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) in Port-Harcourt, Kaduna and Warri.
Quoting one of the trainees, Ibrahim Mohammed, in the statement, the PTDF said he was employed by Dorman Long Engineering Limited, a leading oilfield equipment, marine structural engineering and fabrication company.
It also said another beneficiary, Gideon Uko, had on completion of the six months PTA programme engaged by Supertech Investment Limited, a contractor with the Warri Refining and Petrochemical Company (WRPC). It added that the company specialised in Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) services in the oil industry.
The statement equally noted that management of the refineries commended PTDF for the high level-training given to the welders.
It quoted the Executive Director Operations at WRPC, Mr. Ariaga Uzoma, to have said at the close-out ceremony of the second batch of the PTA scheme that the welders have been of immense support and added value to the operations of the refinery plant.
The PTDF, said more of its trained welders have been exposed to the practical on-the-job experience in the industry with the expectation that the industry would eventually absorb them.
It explained that at the Port-Harcourt Refining and Petrochemical Company (PHRC), the third batch of the PTA scheme was recently flagged off, and that the management of the refinery was impressed by the diligence, professionalism and commitment to duty of the previous beneficiaries of the PTA at the refinery, and thus requested for an increase in the number of PTDF trained welders for enrolment into the PTA scheme at the refinery.
