Oghenetejiri Nyerhovwo
Chief Timipre Sylva, Minister of State for Petroleum Resources has given assurance that he would synergize with the National Assembly to fast track the proposed amendment of the Petroleum Training Institute (PTI)Act before the end of the President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration in May, 2023.
Chief Sylva gave this assurance at the 22nd Graduation ceremony of the Petroleum Training Institute(PTI), Effurun, he said the Institute deserves increased funding to enable it perform fully it’s statutory enabling act’s vision.
Chief Sylva who was represented at ceremony which also marked the grand finale of the Institute’s golden jubilee by Amb. Gabriel Tanimu Aduda, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry explained, “notwithstanding the bold strides of the management of the Institute, the Institute can achieve more if the PTI Act is amended to make the Institute get more funding for its operations.”
He added, “to this end, I shall in my capacity as Minister of State for Petroleum Resources synergize with the National Assembly that adequate attention is given to the amendment of the PTI Act before the end of this administration”
Chief Sylva also disclosed that the Nigerian Oil and Gas Park under construction at Odukpani in Cross River State will be completed by December this year.
He said that the Park is aimed
at creating an environment for low-cost manufacturing that would produce equipment components and spare parts that will be used in the Nigerian Oil and Gas industry.
He spoke further “”the completion of the project will benefit the national economy because it will help reduce the demand for foreign exchange for importation of equipment. It will also provide employment opportunities for graduands of the Institute”.
The Minister further disclosed that the output from the Nigeria’s Liquefied Natural Gas would soon be boosted with the signing of ‘the Train 7 contract’ which, according to him, “will bring about employment and development for Nigerians as 55 percent of the engineering activities will be carried out in Nigeria, 55 percent of all procurements will be done by competent Nigerian vendors and 100 percent of the installations and construction of Train 7 will be executed in Nigeria”.
The Minister added, “the $7 billion project will support the Federal Government’s drive to generate more revenue from Nigeria’s confirmed gas reserves of about 207 trillion cubic feet and this will further reduce gas flaring in the industry”.
Chief Sylva listed other efforts by the Federal Government at further boosting the industry as including “coordinating with international partners to promote Nigeria’s petroleum sector, push for the establishment of an African Energy Bank, increasing the Nigerian Content Intervention Fund to $350 million, etc”.
He noted further, “currently, this administration is making concerted efforts to curtail the issue of crude oil theft which has reduced government’s revenue and foreign exchange income. Oil theft has denied the country of estimated 700,000 barrels per day. The adverse effect of this is the drop in the production of crude oil. Despite this setback, the government is not deterred on meeting with the country’s OPEC quota. These criminal activities are not taking place in oblivion.”
“Interestingly, the Petroleum Training Institute, as an indispensable organ of the Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources, cannot be ignored while mentioning the goals and achievements of this administration. This is because the management of the Petroleum Training Institute has aligned itself with the agenda of the Petroleum Ministry through its Research Directorate”, he said.
Earlier, in his speech, Dr. Henry Adimula, Principal/Chief Executive of PTI disclosed that a total of 1,156 graduands were receiving the Institute’s Diplomas and Certificates for the 2020/2021 academic session.
He disclosed that out of the number, 629 were awarded National Diploma and 501 awarded Higher National Diploma while six graduands received PTI General Welding Certificates. Out of the number, 112 students graduated with distinction while 380 graduated with upper credit grades.
The Principal further disclosed that in this era of energy transition, the trainings undertaken by the graduating students had prepared them “for the various opportunities that are available not only in the oil and gas and allied industries but equally in the renewable, new and cleaner sources of energy”.
According to Dr. Adimula, “the Institute has re-signed more closely to the needs of the oil & gas and allied industries over the recent years, to this end, several milestones have been achieved
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