BY FESTUS OKOROMADU
The Federal Government said plans are in place to reposition and restructure the nation’s foremost manpower training institute in the oil and gas industry, Petroleum Training Institute, in Effurun, Delta State.
Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Petroleum Resources, Gabriel Tanimu Aduda, who spoke at a one day meeting held in Abuja last week said the government is determined to reposition the institute to make it more effective in the face of global development.
He noted that at inception, the PTI had specific functions and it was expected to be a major force in improving the lot of the oil and gas Industry in Nigeria.
“Indeed, it started well, but along the line, some things happened and today, the Institute has become a shadow of itself,” he said.
Aduda told the stakeholders that the whole idea of the meeting was to discuss and fashion out pathways that could help in repositioning the institute to be able to deliver on its mandate to the oil and gas Industry. He stated that it was extremely important that issues such as the act setting up the Institute and its sources of funding among others be revisited.
He told the gathering that the African Petroleum Producers’ Organization was looking up to the PTI for the manpower training and development of Africans in the oil and gas sector.
He informed that, in this regard, APPO has put up a team that would visit the Institute within the first quarter of 2023.
In her address, the Director, Human Resources Management of the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Asma’u Shehu Adaji, said the PTI was the foremost manpower training institution in the country with an enviable record that impacted the oil and gas industry in Nigeria and beyond. She however noted that in view of fallen standards, Industry players began to overlook the PTI for their training needs.
Adaji relished the enthusiasm demonstrated by all stakeholders in the drive towards repositioning the Institute since the restart of the process.
“This is quite encouraging and a strong motivation for the Ministry of Petroleum resources to provide the needed leadership that is required to attain the set goals,” she posited.
In his remarks, the Principal, Petroleum Training Institute, Henry Adimula, said the Institute was envisioned to be the leading oil and gas technological manpower in the whole of Africa.
He reechoed the view of the Permanent Secretary about the Institute starting well because it was servicing the training needs of the oil and gas Industry and providing the needed technical manpower.
Adimula stated that the Institute did not enjoy the commensurate funding to help it adjust to the pace at which the Industry was growing and changing, thus a gap was created.
