Govt Secures U.S.$4.5million Support ... to Train 200 Job Seekers for the Oil, Gas Sectors

By Cliff Ekuful

Government has secured $4.5million to support the Accelerated Oil and Gas Capacity (AOGC) programme launched by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo in November last year, the Minister of Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah has announced.

According to him, the funds secured from Aker Energy was to help facilitate the training of about 200 Ghanaians to equip them with the necessary skills that would enable them take up job opportunities in the upstream oil and gas sector.

Mr Oppong Nkrumah disclosed this at the Wednesday edition of the bi-weekly media briefing organised by the Ministry in Accra yesterday.

He said the launch of the project was aimed at developing the capacity of Ghanaians in core technical areas such as welding and metal fabrication, pipe fitting, non-destructive test technicians, drilling engineers, mechanical technicians etc so that they can take roles and job opportunities.

In addition, it was also to develop the capacities of Ghanaian technical and vocational institutions as well as universities to offer world class training and certifications for the oil and gas industry.

"Since the launch, the AOGC Secretariat has been set-up under the Petroleum Commission to see to the realisation of these objectives," he emphasized.

Mr Oppong Nkrumah said one of the secretariat's successes so far was the securing of the $4.5million from Aker Energy to provide technical trainings and certifications to train mechanical technicians, electrical technicians, instrumentation technicians, welders and metal fabricators.

He said this was to ensure that all the beneficiaries acquired Basic Offshore Induction and Emergency Training (BOSIET) to facilitate smooth transition into the upstream petroleum sector as qualified technicians.

This according to him will add a further 200 skilled workers to the upstream industry and ensure that increasingly more of the jobs in the upstream sector are now done by Ghanaians, adding that "Training starts in January and by December, the last cohorts should have completed."

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