Government Committed To Supporting Training Institutions In The Petroleum Sector – Deputy Energy Minister

The Deputy Minister of Energy in charge of petroleum, Hon. Dr. Mohammed Amin Adam has affirmed Government’s commitment to support institutions that trains Ghanaian workforce to operate in the Oil and Gas industry.

Dr. Amin Adam, made this known when he paid a working visit to the Regional Maritime University (RMU) in Accra to, amongst other things, get himself acquainted with the activities of the university, interact with university authorities and inspect engineering equipment procured and installed by the Oil and Gas Capacity Building Project (OGCBP) for RMU. According to the Deputy Minister, it is important that Ghanaians acquire requisite skills needed to be at the forefront of Ghana’s petroleum industry.

He further indicated that Government will soon rollout a new programme dubbed the Accelerated Oil and Gas Capacity Building Programme, to build capacity of state institutions and improve local content in the petroleum sector. “We are through with the concept and we will soon submit it to Cabinet for approval” he said.

The Vice Chancellor of the university, Prof. Elvis K. Nyarko thanked the Deputy Minister for visiting RMU. He then indicated that the OGCBP has provided them with state of the art equipment to build capacity to support the local content policy and also train Ghanaians to operate in the sector. “This will enable us to train more people and bring them up to a level where they can be properly certified” he said. He further iterated that, RMU is now well equipped to provide training in both the petroleum upstream and downstream sectors. Prof. Nyarko also expounded the significant contributions that RMU is making in Ghana’s petroleum industry. “RMU is contributing to producing critical human resources needed for Ghana’s oil and gas industry. “We collaborate with industry to ensure that those who get trained with us get work easily” he added.

Project Coordinator of the OGCBP, Mr. Alex Kyei, indicated that the Ministry is collaborating with RMU to train 500 welders in order for them to be certified.

The Deputy Minister and his entourage including the Chief Director of the Ministry, Mr. Lawrence Apaalse, toured the Well Control Simulator Lab, Process Operator Simulator Lab, Drilling Fluids Lab and Electrical Lab of the university.