Agencies partner to develop programme linking oil firms to Nigerian universities

National University Commission: Can it stop the strike

The Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board, NCDMB, and the Nigerian Universities Commission, NUC, have initiated ‘Adopt-A-Faculty’ (AAFac) programme aimed at facilitating the link between the country’s oil and gas industry and the university system.

NCDMB and NUC, which agreed to the initiative at a recent meeting in Abuja to ensure that both functioned to the benefit of the Nigerian economy, said a joint committee has been set up to develop a detailed action plan within four weeks.

Both agencies have named members of the joint committee and they have started work.

The Executive Secretary of NCDMB, Denzil Kentebe, described the AAFac Programme as a capacity development initiative of the Board aimed at using academic institutions as a catalyst for local content development.

“The programme aims at facilitating partnerships between the academia and the oil and gas industry so as to align the university curriculum to industry technology as well as skills requirements to enable them train their students in courses and programmes relevant to the needs of the industry,” Mr. Kentebe said.

The Executive Secretary listed other goals of the programme to include developing a culture for applied research; stimulating commercialization of research findings from Nigerian academic institutions; encouraging beneficiaries of Nigerian oil and gas resources to invest in manpower and innovation; and maintaining healthy pipeline of oil and gas talents.

He said that the Board would use its regulatory powers and mandate to ensure that oil and gas operating and service companies complied with the requirements of the AAFac programme.

The Executive Secretary of the NUC, Julius Okojie commended the Board for initiating the programme and considering the Commission as partner first, rather than going directly to the various institutions.

Mr. Okojie, who said that Nigeria had about 142 universities running 610 academic programmes, affirmed the commitment of the NUC to partner with NCDMB in the implementation of the AAFac programme.

The NUC boss also decried the rejection of several Nigerian students by operators in the oil and gas industry due to perceived lack of relevant skills and expressed hope that the initiative would help redress the trend.

Mr. Okojie, who was represented by the Deputy Executive Secretary 1, Chiedu Mafiana, stated that the first step in the AAFac programme would be to review the schools’ curricula, identify the gaps, both in theory and practice, and restructure the curriculum to suit the needs of the oil and gas industry.

Credit: Premium Times

Comments

DEFECTIONS: Why Saraki, Dogara Others Must Heed Sen. Ibrahim's Call by Comrade Nwokoma Ndubuisi M.

The gale of defections in the National Assembly last week was followed by an advice from no one else than Sen. Abu Ibrahim that the Senate President Dr. Bukola Saraki as well as the Speaker of the House of Representatives Yakubu Dogara and others in the fold of the All Progressives Congress APC that are still masquerading in the party should resign their membership of the party. This call which also implies that they resign their positions as leaders of the various arms of the National Assembly is yet to be complied with by those concerned as at the time of writing this piece Whatever their reasons for still staying put in the party may be, the fact of the matter is that their continued stay in the party has become a sore which must be extricated from the body. As I watched through the proceedings of the defections on national television, I wept for the country for producing such leaders that lack morality despite all the party has given them politically which they ordin...

Rivers Governmnet, PDP Disagree Over $280 million Looan

The Rivers State Government and the Peoples Democratic Party in the state are currently at loggerheads over the request by the state Governor, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, for a $280m loan for water and sanitation projects. While the state PDP said that the latest request for loan by the state government was unnecessary due to the resources accruing to the state through the federal allocation and internally generated revenue, the government said it was not true that the funds were to be used for 2015 elections. The state House of Assembly had on Monday endorsed Amaechi’s request for loan for water supply and sanitation projects. But the state PDP, in a statement, signed by the Special Adviser to its Chairman, Mr. Jerry Needam, said the request for loan was aimed at punishing the governor’s successor in 2015. The party called on members of the House of Assembly, the Federal Ministry of Finance, the African Development Bank and the World Bank not to honour the loan re...

2019: Northern youths kick as Northwest APC lawmakers endorse Buhari

The leadership of the Arewa Youth Forum on Monday said President Muhammadu Buhari does not deserve any endorsement for the 2019 presidency. Reacting to a purported endorsement by some serving All Progressives Congress’s lawmakers from the Northwest in Kaduna, the AYF’s National President, Alhaji Gambo Gujungu, said Buhari was not fit to return as president in 2019. The AYF argued that with the killing spree all over the country, especially in the North, Buhari should serve his mandatory four years term and quit the stage for another Northerner. Gujungu noted that one sour point about President Buhari’s 2019 ambition was his claim that the killings across the country were being carried out by “desperate politicians”, yet he had not arrested even a single suspect. The AYF president, therefore, said Nigerians should blame the president for the attacks on innocent citizens. The AYF boss who spoke to our correspondent on phone on Monday, said the President’s cl...

newsman

Search This Blog