Danvic Petroleum School boosts local content with domestication of training
MD Danvic Petroleum, Afe Mayowa
With its objective to bridge the gap between the academia and practical experience in the oil industry, Danvic Petroleum Training School has graduated its pioneer set of trainees in the first phase of a training programme.
Speaking at the graduation, the Managing Director, Danvic Petroleum, Afe Mayowa, said although the initiative is meant to improve the local content drive in the sector, it is also a step to expose the students to essential knowledge which are most times not taught in schools.
According to him, four out of the 20 trainees who graduated have been attached to various industry giants for the second phase of the programme.The Danvic boss said prior to the introduction of the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), the country was losing over $100 million yearly on services of professional expatriates in the sector.
He noted that with the domestication of the technical skill sets, the losses have reduced to about $50 million as noted by the NCDMB. Afe, who revealed the company’s intention to establish the first private oil and gas university in the country, stressed noted the need to revise the university curricula to suiteNigeria’s current energy needs.
“The energy need is enormous, and there are jobs in the oil and gas industry, but the system is not producing qualified Nigerians to take up the task, hence the vision to train employable students because the industry needs already made products,” he remarked.
Commending the company’s efforts, the General Manager, Capacity Building,NCDMB, Ikponmwosa Oviasu, said Danvic Petroleum has indeed overcome the challenge of engaging the graduates with stakeholders who are willing to engage them for a year to ensure they gain the necessary experience to be ready for the industry.
He added: “Trainees would not only be equipped with all they need to become readily employable to face all the challenges in the oil and gas sector, but they would also be financially empowered by these companies.”
Oviasu advanced that the whole essence of such training programmes is to ensure Nigerians are able to participate in the oil and gas industry, as hitherto; most of the critical skills set in the sector are expatriate driven. “We have our young engineers who graduate and to make them players in the industry, we have to get them ready.”
Commenting on the standards, Oviasu pointed out that training certification is an essential requisite with which emphasis are laid on training vendors because industry certified certificates make the trainees not only employable in Nigeria but anywhere in the world.
The graduates expressed their joy, saying the first six months of the phase one has really been challenging, as they have been exposed to differences between the academic and the industry.“We came here as mere graduates, but now, we are employable and inspired,” Akinmuda Oluwaseun, one of the graduates said.
Afe, however appealed to the government to support such private initiatives by creating an enabling environment to help improve local content as well as save the country some resources.
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