The Agence Française de Development (AFD) and the European Union (EU), have pledged to commit $46 million to fund vocational skills in Nigeria’s power sector.
The Director-General of National Power Training Institute (NAPTIN), Mr. Ahmed Nagode, gave this hint on Wednesday at a workshop on ‘Enhancing Vocational Training Delivery for the Nigerian Power Sector’ held in Abuja
Represented at the forum by the Institute’s Director, Legal Services and Head Implementation Unit (PIU) of the project, Mr. Kunle Oyenusi, the NAPTIN’s boss expressed optimism that the workshop, with the theme ‘Meeting the Training Needs of the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry’, would enhance capacity building in the power industry.
The Director General explained that a financing plan aggregate of $46 million by AFD and the EU would be solely invested in NAPTIN for the enhancement of vocational skills training in the power sector in the county
Nagode listed the project’s key components as three, namely Product Development, Infrastructure Development and Corporate Development.
According to him, the project when completed will reposition NAPTIN as a world-class capacity building centre to serve the Nigeria Electricity Supply Industry (NESI) and West Africa Power Pool (WAPP)
He elaborated: “ECOWAS Centre for renewable Energy and Energy efficiency (ECREEE) and Association of Power Utilities of Africa (APUA). The project has four specific objectives: to develop trainings curricula adapted to the market needs and specialise the trainers.
“To reinforce NAPTIN’s attractiveness by building new technical infrastructure laboratories, workshops and acquiring relevant technical equipment for the network of the regional training centres and headquarters in Abuja.
“To sustain public investment by setting up a sustainable business model and to deeply reform NAPTIN’s governance, procedures and policies into a more business-oriented institution”, he added.
Describing the workshop as part of the product development component, the NAPTIN’s boss said that the workshop was organised to bring stakeholders together at a round table to talk about their training needs.
He said doing this would enable the Institute to develop its training products through infrastructure to deliver quality training that the sector needs, adding that the recommendation by the participants will be helpful in the development of the training packages.
According to him, to support the generation, transmission and distribution companies there is the need to ensure that human capacity is given the right attention.
While thanking the AFD and EU for providing the support for the project’s implementation, Nagode promised that the Institute would ensure that the training contents and courses developed suit the current and future needs of NESI.
In his remarks, Team Lead Component 1 for the project, Mr. Joseph Vennel, noted that there were a lot of unskilled workmen in the power sector, stressing that the training when completed will enhance the technical competencies of the affected workers.
He advised: “There is the need for stakeholders in the power sector to enhance its human capacity skills for workmen to deliver quality service as customers want regular electricity at all times.”
