Job Osazuwa
Procurement and project management company, Geoscape Limited, has screened unemployed graduates, who were drawn from different universities, for a one-year specialised training. 
At the opening of the training in Lagos, Geoscape’s head of Compliance, Corporate Services and Nigerian Content Development manager, Kingsley Kezinibe said the training was conceived by Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), which mandates oil and gas companies to set aside a certain per cent of their profit for the training of selected youths.
He said NCDMB has a database of applicants from which it sent to different procurement outfits that would conduct the training in courses relating to the Oil and Gas sector.
On who is qualified to partake in the capacity building exercise, he said Geoscape ran series of tests on all the applicants as received from NCDMB. He stated that those who were unable to meet up with the minimum requirements for the training were dropped.
“Out of about 80 applicants, especially fresh graduates, who were sent to us by the monitoring board, only 22 of the engineering graduates met the 40 per cent requirement needed for the exercise,” he said.
While urging the participants to be serious with the training, Kezinibe warned that it was not automatic for every trainee to be given a certificate at the end of the six months. He explained that it is only those that would pass the lined-up tests and examinations that would leave home with the proper certificate. He added that others would merely be given certificate of attendance.
 “They have a lot to gain because they get showcased for better job opportunities. They will be given monthly stipend while the training lasts,” he said.
The head of Contracts and Assets, Morenike Jupi-Igbeka said the programme – six months in the classroom and six months on the job, was one of the ways to improve the skills of Nigerian graduates.
In order to actualise the goal of the programme, she said that the NCDMB has directed that it is only trainers that have been certified and approved for Oil and Gas operations that can train the shortlisted candidates.
One of the trainees, who is a Petroleum Engineering graduate, Momoh Akigbe Faruq said he was eager to enhance his knowledge especially through practical, as well as to network with engineers in other specialisations.

 

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