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Upsurge in oil and gas institutes alarming – NVTI Director

  • SOURCE: | qwesa2big
  • The Director of the National Vocational Training Institute (NVTI), Mr Stephen B. Amponsah, has expressed concern over the upsurge in advertisements on oil and gas training institutes in the country, especially in the Western Region.

    He said if proper checks were not put in place, the population could be short-changed, since the issue was not about the best adverts but about meeting the relevant standard of training and competence.

    Mr Amponsah was speaking during a visit to the Sigma-Base Oil and Gas Technical Skills Training Programme, where 1,500 trainees are undergoing a six-month training to prepare them for the oil and gas industry.

    He said the NVTI and the Ministry of Employment and Social Welfare were working together with all the critical stakeholders in the oil and gas business to bring about the needed standards to guide and regulate the oil and gas industry.

    "Our desire is that trainees who go through such programmes at recognised institutions should have lasting placements in the industry," he said.

    He said with the needed corresponding international benchmarks in place, all those entering the oil and gas industry would have to be certified based on those standards.

    Mr Amponsah stressed that as the NVTI hastened to work with other partners to put in place the right processes and practices, it required of all who wanted to venture into training in the industry to ensure that the right accreditation had been secured.

    "We think by so doing employers in the oil and gas industry will have the needed confidence in our graduates," he added, saying "the NVTI and the Ministry of Employment and Social Welfare will not relent but work hard to ensure that the right environment is created for a strong local content participation in the newly found enterprise".

    He noted that the activities of the Sigma-Base Oil and Gas Technical Services Skills Training Programme fell directly in the mandate of the NVTI, which sought to offer skills to the teeming youth at the skilled worker level which responded to the mix needed for the country’s socio-economic development.

    He noted that the activities sought to prepare the active population to participate in the oil and gas industry in the country.

    The Director of Corporate Affairs and Community Relations of Sigma-Base Technical Services Limited, Mr Ebow Haizel-Ferguson, said at the moment the training programme led to the award of NVTI certificates.

    He said with the needed corresponding international benchmarks in place, all those entering the oil and gas industry would have to be certified based on those standards.

    He said the trainees were eligible for work in the industry as welders, fabricators, pipe fitters, grinders, cutters, welder’s mates and helpers, construction workers, electricians and scaffolders, among others, after their training.

    This, he explained, was because the oil and gas industry started with the building of structures and houses, adding that "since our industry is new, our trainees will have work to do for many years, but we still need international certificates for some of them to enable them to compete internationally".

    Mr Haizel-Ferguson said the company had entered into an arrangement with Harvard Marine International Ghana Limited, the NVTI; the Ghana Oil and Gas Services Providers Association, the Rig Workers Association and the Ministry of Energy to establish the Ghana Oil and Gas Training Institute which would be sited in Takoradi.

    The Chief Executive Officer of Harvard Marine International Ghana Limited, Captain Ron Macgrath, noted that with proper training and commitment of the trainees to follow the guidelines, they would not only be employed in the industry but they would be those who would want to take the lead and start new businesses to service the oil and gas industry.
    http://news.myjoyonline.com/education/201102/60642.asp

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