One hundred and 49 Ghanaian technicians have graduated with City and Guilds International Vocational Qualifications Level 3 certification under the Petroleum Commission’s Accelerated Oil and Gas Capacity Development Programme, AOGC, hosted by the Jubilee Technical Training Centre at the Takoradi Technical University.
They graduated after pursuing a six-month hands-on technician training programme in mechanical, electrical, instrumentation and process engineering to be attractive to job opportunities in the petroleum industry.
The Chief Executive Officer of the Petroleum Commission, Egbert Faibille Jnr., said the high cost of training and international industry certification has been one of the reasons for the few Ghanaian technicians working in the three Ghanaian oil fields, forcing international oil companies, IOCs, to deepend on expatriates to do the work, increasing cost of exploration and production.
While giving a breakdown of the AOGC Programme, Egbert Faibillle said it is a game-changer for Ghanaians to play a major role in the industry, hence government spent GH5.1 million on their training.
“Today, we have a core of 149 Ghanaians who are internationally certified and can work on offshore platforms and installations as well as other industries where their competencies are in demand. Of the 149 graduates, 43 graduates have City and Guilds International Vocational Qualification IVQ Level 3 Mechanical Technicians, 22 as IVQ Level 3 Technicians, 44 as IVQ Level 3 Process Technicians and 41 as IVQ Level 3 Instrumentation Technicians.”
“This cost the Petroleum Commission $7,500 per graduate by way of the direct cost of acquiring the certifications I have mentioned. In total, the Commission spent GH5.1 million for this training programme“, he said.
The CEO of the Petroleum Commission however challenged graduates to justify their training by contributing to the Ghanaian oil industry.
“The best way to show appreciation to the government and people the of Ghana for this investment in your respective futures is to commit to work in Ghana and help reduce the cost of oil and gas production so that the IOCs and the government of Ghana will spend less in exploration and production of our oil flows from the standpoint of job role localization“, he added.
He commended various companies that opened their doors to provide supervised industrial attachment for trainees to ensure their successful completion of the six-month programme.
The Deputy Energy Minister, Andrew Agyapa Mercer, while assuring graduates of plans to collaborate with the Petroleum Commission to employ them, commended Takoradi Technical University for its role in capacity building for the industry.
“To the Takoradi Technical University, we are grateful for being a bridge between industry and academia. We remain committed to many more of these strategic partnerships in the interest of our fledging oil and gas industry“, he said
Vice-Chancellor of Takoradi Technical University, Rev. Prof. John Frank Eshun, said TTU collaborated with the Petroleum Commission on training for the industry to support the government’s local content agenda to train Ghanaian expertise for the petroleum sector.
“When Ghana discovered oil and gas in commercial quantities and subsequently started production, little or no efforts were made in ensuring that Ghanaians have the requisite knowledge and the skills to contribute to the production of these hydrocarbons, hence most of the jobs related to the upstream and downstream oil and gas sector were left in the hands of expatriates.”
With the rising unemployment among the youth in the country, the government deliberately carved an agenda of ensuring that the Ghanaian youth plays a pivotal role in the exploration, exploitation and the management of these hydrocarbons both the upstream and downstream, hence the training of the 150 beneficiaries for the AOGC programme.
While commending the Jubilee Partners for its support in creating the enabling environment for the training of petroleum technicians in TTU, Prof. John Frank Eshun said the university is deepening its collaboration to train more professionals for the petroleum sector.
“Currently, there is an urgent need for technicians in the welding and pipe fitting for the oil and gas sector since the discovery of oil and gas in commercial quantities. It is in this vein that, Takoradi Technical University has again entered into an MoU with Petroleum Commission to establish a world-class Welding and Pipe fitting Centre at TTU to train Ghanaian youths in this direction.”
“We are extremely grateful to the Petroleum Commission for sponsoring some staff members of the University currently undergoing training at North Alberta Institute of Technology, Canada.”
“Moreso, the University has signed MoU with Aberdeen Drilling School, ADS, to offer professional training programmes by ADS specialists at TTU facilities. The training will comprise Workforce Development, drilling engineer development programmes, Well Control for drilling and well intervention, and Specialist training for well operation among others. This agreement will go a long way to empower Ghanaians to be marketable in the oil and gas and its allied industry“, he added.
The Western Regional Minister, Kwabena Okyere Darko Mensah lauded the partnership between the Petroleum Commission and the Takoradi Technical University to build capacity for the industry as well as increase the share of the region in their training.
The First Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Joe Osei Wusu, who graced the graduation ceremony, commended PC and TTU for taking the lead in training Ghanaians for the petroleum industry.
