GETS beneficiaries complete training

Energy Institute Nigeria has announced the completion of the first set of 20 professional graduate engineers from the 2016/2017 Graduate Engineering Training Scheme (GETS). The training for the first batch of GETS graduates, funded by the Royal Academy of Engineering under the Africa Catalyst 2016/2017 scheme with technical support from Lonadek Consulting, comprised a four-month intensive multidisciplinary classroom and practical based learning on conventional and non-conventional sources of energy to acquire the necessary skills to solve the power supply challenges in Nigeria.

The keynote was delivered by the Chairman Energy Institute Nigeria, Mr. Osten Olorunshola, who spoke on the importance of the training scheme in providing a platform for young Nigerian engineering graduates to become entrepreneurs and best-fit professionals with readily deployable technical skills with a focus on priority sectors of the economy (Energy, Power, Infrastructure and Agriculture).

“This is a critical milestone for the Energy Institute, Nigeria. We are excited to see that the training was well received and participants consistently expressed the opinion that it was a real value-added time for them and their future businesses & careers,” he said.

Dr. Ibilola Amao, the Principal Consultant of Lonadek commended the dedication of the GETS graduates and their passion to acquire knowledge saying; “This four month program was designed to stimulate innovation, and close the gap between theory and practice, we certainly were challenged with the difficult task of getting to know our professionals, learn their strengths and weaknesses and strategically pull it all together in a short period of time”.

Commenting on the graduation, Yewande Abiose, managing director of the institute, said, “Today marks the completion of training for 20 young engineering professionals and we are working to cultivate more qualified engineers in both the public and private sector. As the program grows in the future with the anticipated support of other corporate organizations, the GETS project will continue to foster our commitment to developing well-rounded energy and power engineers with technical know-how to generate clean, affordable and reliable sources of power that can be used in Nigerian communities as well as developing engineering professionals in other priority sectors of the Nigerian economy.”

The programme officially launched in January 2017, and is in tandem with the four cardinal objectives of Royal Academy of Engineering Global Challenge Research Fund (GCRF) Africa Catalyst Award and part of Energy Institute’s Continuing Professional Development (CPD) programme, a point-based programme designed for students, graduates and young professionals to encourage continuous training, learning and development of engineering professionals within the energy industry throughout their careers. The training was delivered in partnership with Lonadek Consulting, an indigenous manpower capacity development firm committed to developing capacity, capability and competence across various sectors of the economy.