FG Okays $10m for 2,500 Trainee-engineers

http://[img][/img]Fellow Friends, what do u have to say about this:

The Federal Government has approved $10 million for Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF), for training of about 2,500 Nigerian engineers who would be employed in the oil and gas industry.
Making the disclosure yesterday at the International Local Content Conference 2007, PTDFÃs Manager, Legal Department, Mar. Balarabe Ahmed, who represented the Executive Secretary of PTDF, Alhaji Kabira Mohammed, also stated the PTDF is currently carrying out various projects in the Niger Delta region in line with a directive by President Olusegun Obasanjo.
Ahmed, who declined to disclose the exact amount approved for the Niger Delta projects, stated that the project was sanctioned by the Federal Executive council.
"With the presidential directives, we now have some projects which we are carrying out in the Niger Delta.
The Niger Delta Projects have been approved by the Federal Executive Council. But I cannot say off-heart, the exact amount, but I can tell you it involves a big sum of money, he said.

Ahmed, who spoke on a paper titled, ìManpower Development and Capacity Building Strategies for Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry,î stated that the 2,500 Nigerian engineers, would be trained in conjunction with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) adding that their training was to improve the quality of the nationÃs manpower on the petroleum industry.
The Overseas Scholarship Scheme (OSS) he noted, was a combined effort of PTDF, which is aimed at making postgraduate courses in the areas relevant to the oil, gas and solid minerals industries available to Nigerian nationals.
He further disclosed that organization had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with a few universities and Kaduna Refining and Petrochemical Company (KRPC) on research into some areas of the oil and gas industry.
While affirming that PTDF had not made any significant impact on capacity building of the manufacturing sector, he said, the organization had concentrated on critical areas like engineering, fabrication and welding.
ìThat is what we are concentrating now. Of course, we believe that it is part of our mandate and sooner or later, we have to extend to such areas so that we enhance the capacity and capability of the manufacturersà products. They can provide goods and services to the oil industry.î
Also speaking, Engr. Joseph Akande, who represented the Group Managing Director of the NNPC, Egnr. Funsho Kupolokun, disclosed that, in line with the Local Content Development, Shell has award is awarding some Nigerian companies contract valued about $500m for over a period of five years.
He assured that companies which were awareded contracts by oil companies, but have no finances to execute them, could collect more from the Local Content fund. The money, he said would be refunded by such contractor.