First batch UNITAR-Total E&P Trainees in Electro and Tubing Instrumentation at Stord/Norway 2009
New mile stone in Youth development
UNITAR/PHPO (Port Harcourt Project Office) Nigeria records a capstone achievement in Youth Development. With the support of Total Exploration & Production Nigeria Limited (Total E&P), forty youths from Oil and Gas bearing communities in the Niger Delta Region have commenced Industry-driven Technical Capacity Development Programme in millwright, instrumentation, electro/tubing, cable tray, drilling, quality maintenance and safety supervisors and other specialized industry-based welding skills which qualify them for direct employment in Oil and Gas industry. The training venues are in Norway and Namibia.
The first batch of ten youths on this scheme departed the shores of Nigeria for Norway on November 31st and returned on December 19th 2009. The second batch of ten which departed for Namibia on November 15th is expected to return on February 26th 2010. Others will proceed according to schedule until the requisite technical manpower expected to meet the projected millions of man-hour needs in the Up Grade of Oil Mineral Licence 58 (OML 58) for Total Exploration and Production Nigeria limited in Egi is available.
The programme which attracted public and private sector partners in the region motivated Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) - a Federal Government interventionist Agency - and Rivers State Sustainable Development Agency (RSSDA) to commence the process of selection of one hundred youths each who would also benefit from the UNITAR/PHPO industry-specific youth development initiative. Graduates from these training programmes would provide required specialized skill manpower for oil and gas industry in the NDR and West African sub-region.
The capacity building programme directly contributes to achieving UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) which UNITAR/PHPO captured as a result of the numerous participatory consultations with stakeholders leading to establishment of Training and Capacity Building for Sustainable Development in collaboration with federal, state, local authorities and private sector organizations in the Niger Delta Region (NDR).
The Partnership for Sustainable Development (PSD) an organisation of investors, collaborators, and stakeholders in Oil and Gas industry from public and private sectors in the NDR, lauds UNITAR/PHPO Technical Capacity Development for Oil and Gas Sector’s new milestone as a panacea for graduate re-training, perennial youth unemployment, and restiveness.
Other training initiatives of UNITAR/PHPO include:
  • Training on Negotiation and Conflict Resolution (Alternative Dispute Resolution);
  • Training on Governance, Leadership and Local Administration Management.
  • Training on Environmental Protection and Compliance;
  • Training on Business Development;
  • Training on Economic and Social Development Planning
  • UNITAR/HP Micro Accelerated Programme (MAP);
  • Training on the use of satellite imagery and data to produce and deliver information, analysis and observations for development work at the national and community level
So far, between March 2006 and December 2009, eight hundred and forty (840) participants have benefited from UNITAR/PHPO Training and Capacity Building Programmes in the thematic areas. Of this number, six hundred and thirty four (634) are men while two hundred and six (206) are women. The beneficiaries are drawn from the public and private sector’s all-inclusive stakeholder population.
Good Governance/Leadership Programme
In another development, the new Board of the NDDC headed by Mr. Chibuzo Ugwoha MD/CEO has moved UNITAR/NDDC partnership to a new level by releasing 70% of pledged counterpart fund for the implementation of the UNITAR-NDDC agreed work plan.
The three cardinal principles which form the fulcrum of UNITAR-NDDC collaboration are:
  • The transfer of experiences, technologies and skills must be community- driven;
  • Training and capacity building should in line with beneficiary needs and enhance the capabilities to effectively perform relevant task; and
  • Training and capacity building should contribute to national and regional development strategy (e.g. National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy (NEEDS), Niger Delta Regional Development Master Plan (NDRDMP) etc)
The Objective of the partnership may be summarized as:
“To be the peoples’ threshold of knowledge, innovation, skill, standards, information, capacity building, and motivation in using good governance and community driven sustainable development initiatives to rapidly transform the Niger Delta Region into an economically viable, socially stable, ecologically regenerative and politically peaceful place.”
 
Mr. Ugwoha MD/CEO NDDC (second from left) addresses a press conference 2nd November, 2009.
 
 
 
 
In a press conference, Mr. Chibuzo Ugwoha stated that “the outlined activities in the partnership programme which would ensure the transfer of experiences, technologies and skills include:-
  • In-house training of Management Staff in conflict management, leadership, effective team building, effective communication, etc.
  • Technical capacity building for the rehabilitation and re-integration of 100 youths in industry-specific skills in Norway. These skills will provide the National content in the Nigerian Oil and gas industry which has been defined by the Federal Government as “quantum of composite value added to, or created in the Nigerian economy through a deliberate utilization of Nigerian human and material resources and services in the exploration, development, exploitation, transportation and sale of Nigerian crude oil and gas resources, without compromising quality, health, safety and environmental standards”.
Finally, UNITAR Office in Nigeria which became operational with effect from 26th March 2006 and which has been committed to bringing the huge institutional capacity development programmes and initiatives of the Institute to the easily accessible benefit of relevant public and private sector operators in NDR is progressively expanding its services to cover the Gulf of Guinea states. Evidence of this expansion strategy is the collaboration with African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF)  for the proposed establishment of an International Training Centre (CIFAL) in Benin City Edo State. When fully operational, the Centre will cater for the manpower development needs of Anglophone countries in the West African Sub-Region. 
  
 
 
Mr. Carlos Lopes’ maiden visit to UNITAR Office in Nigeria February 2009.
 
 
 

 

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