Government Unveils New Capacity Programme For Petroleum Sector

The President of the Republic of Ghana, His Excellency Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo recently launched a new capacity development programme for Ghana’s oil and gas sector dubbed “Accelerated Oil and Gas Capacity (AOGC) Programme”.

The programme is aimed at empowering Ghanaians and Ghanaian companies with the requisite skills for them to actively participate in Ghana’s oil and gas industry.

The AOGC Programme which has been carefully conceived combines different capacity building initiatives as well as new initiatives, to meet the demands of the oil and gas industry. It is categorized in four thematic areas namely: Technical, Vocational, Apprenticeship Development and Utilisation; Capacity Development of Educational Institutions; SME Capacity Building; and Public Institutional Development & Sector Management.

According to the President in a speech read on his behalf by the Minister for Energy, Hon. Boakye Agyarko, Government is determined to expand opportunities in the oil and gas industry, and “use it as a catalyst for the rapid transformation of our country” he said.

Stressing on his plans to ensure that Ghana runs a successful oil and gas regime, the President indicated that Ghana was privy to successes and failures of other oil producing economies after discovering oil and gas in commercial quantities in 2017 under the leadership of His Excellency John Agyekum Kufuor, former President of the Republic. “What history has taught us, and the lessons we have learnt from other successful oil and gas jurisdictions, are deliberate policies and programmes have been put in place to ensure that nationals of these oil and gas economies take a full and active part in oil and gas activities. “One of the surest ways to ensuring active Ghanaian participation in our oil and gas industry is to build the capacity of Ghanaians to take up opportunities in the industry” he added.

The President also indicated that the Ministry of Energy has already laid out a plan under the AOGC Programme to train 1000 Ghanaiansannually to gain various technical skills.

H.E Akufo-Addo further emphasized that 200 Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs) will be provided with the capacity to gain a competitive advantage in theindustry annually. Additionally, 300 employees of public institutions will be adequately prepared to support the development of oil and gas policies, and enforce industry regulations.

Hon. Boakye Agyarko also commissioned and toured state of the art oil and gas facilities and a welding,fabrication and mechanical workshop constructed by the Oil and Gas Capacity Building Project (OGCBP)for the Regional Maritime University (RMU).