NAN-H-3
Fabrication
By Kevin Okunzuwa
Benin, Oct. 30, 2016 (NAN) The Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF) says it has trained 130 graduates in Advance welding training certificate programme as part of its contribution to repositioning the nation’s technology and economic development.
PTDF’s Executive Secretary Bello Gausu made this known when he presented certificates to the graduates at the Nigerian Institute of Welding, Obayanton, near Benin on Sunday.
Gusau was represented by Mrs Jaquelline Guyil, Head, Nigerian Content Department.
He said the welding skills were imperative as it “enables one to work not only in the oil and gas industry but in other allied industries such as construction, mining, power, auto mobile, telecommunications, among others.
Gusau said that PTDF embarked on the training because it believed that “a well-developed and active workforce had throughout history proven to be a very potent means of economic development.
“Being mindful of this, the PTDF has been expending significant efforts to ensure adequate capacity building for Nigerians to bridge identified gaps in the industry,’’ he said.
According to him, the certificate award ceremony is very unique in many ways: it marks the end of the in-country Advanced Welding Programme which is the graduating 130 trained Nigerian welders.
“The three months programme entails training and certification on the following five advanced welding processes; flux cored welding, Tungsten inert gas welding, metal inert gas welding, metal active gas welding and oxy-acetylene gas welding.
Gausu noted that the era of downward trend in global oil prices had generated the need for drastic cost savings in the country.
“And our trained welders will now be available to replace expensive expatriates in maning relevant positions in various sectors of our economy,’’ he said.
Earlier, Dr Solomon Edebiri, President of the NIW, said the welding and fabrication sub-sector of the oil and gas industry remained the future of the Nigerian industrial state.
He therefore opined that the quest for the attainment of the vision 20-20-20 by the Federal Government “will remain a mirage if we fail to develop our steel industry, welding and fabrication capability”.
He said government also needed to develop our “Non-destructive testing, inspection and machining technologist capability and capacity,’’ adding that “this is the crux of the future of Nigerian industrial state.’’
Edebiri explained that PTDF in 2007, discovered a massive influx of foreigners in the sector, which arose from the lack of competent Nigrian welders in the oil and gas sector.
“But the realisation of the fact that over 80 per cent of the activities in the oil and gas industry is welding and its related fields.
“And the overwhelming presence of foreigners in this sector of the industry, convinced PTDF to make the development of competent welders one of its major focus,’’ he said.
He said that PTDF’s collaboration with NIW in the last 10 years had brought about the training of several Nigerian welders acquiring the international institute of welding (IIW) certification.
Edebiri disclosed that no fewer than 51 Nigerian welders at various times had been trained and had acquired competence in IIW standards in three different countries.
He said these welders had been trained in South Africa, France and Turkey, respectively, including the training of 1,200 welders at the different IIW certified institutes in Nigeria.
“And today, we add to this list the successful completion of training of 130 Nigerians in Advance Welding processes,’’ he said.
The elated NIW president appreciated the PTDF’s contributions to the manpower development in the sector, saying local welders’ training and qualification programmes had been designed to achieve competency in shielded metal arc welding.
“Unfortunately, views and realities from industry is consistently demanding higher levels of welding personnel competency in more than one process and a minimum of three welding processes.
“The intent to train and qualify welders in more industrially relevant processes is the detailed response to the dynamic demand of the complex oil and gas industry on welding technology.
“It is worthy of mention that most of the beneficiaries of previous training programme now work in different establishments across the globe, including Dubai, Oman, South Korea, Brazil and UK,’’ he said.
Some of the graduates expressed appreciation to PTDF and NIW, saying their collaboration had brought excellence and improvement to the welding engineering and technology sub-sector in the country.(NAN).
KOO/OFN
Edited by Felix Nwadioha