The National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) and the Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF) have joined hands to enhance the socio-economic advantages of the Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano (AKK) gas pipeline.
The Executive Secretary of NBTE, Prof. Idris Bugaje, stressed the importance of collaboration to achieve sustainable industrial growth during a round-table discussion on the AKK Gas Pipeline.
The event, themed “Bridging the Skills Gaps for the AKK Downstream Industries,” took place yesterday in Abuja.
Bugaje noted that the primary objective of the roundtable was to address critical aspects of the AKK Gas Pipeline project by assessing its progress and identifying areas with skill shortages.
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He added that this collaborative effort aimed to devise strategies for power generation and mitigate security concerns associated with the project.
He stated, “The AKK Gas Pipeline project stands as a testament to our nation’s commitment to harnessing its abundant natural resources for the benefit of its people.
“This ambitious endeavour promises to revolutionise our energy landscape and presents unparalleled opportunities for economic diversification and job creation, particularly in the downstream petrochemical industries.
“We are concerned that we are not seeing the utilisation that comes from gas. It is one thing to deliver the gas and it’s another thing to develop the downstream utilisation. Over 85 percent of the gas is loaned from China, that’s why we need to collaborate so that we can start planning on how to utilise the gas properly.”
Speaking, the Executive Secretary of PTDF, Ahmed Aminu, underscored the concerted efforts aimed at fostering a robust and sustainable energy sector in alignment with the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA).
He said the PTDF, on a similar occasion, sought partnerships for capacity building to bridge the gap for necessary skills required to man the industry.
“The necessity of bridging the skills gap in the entire value chain is of utmost priority to PTDF. In line with this mandate, the Fund has engaged in several value-adding initiatives.
“We have in the recent past introduced a project-based training programme, which is an intervention specifically for the frontier basins, non-associated gas projects and the AKK gas pipeline project.
“PTDF through project-based capacity building initiatives sees the AKK project as an opportunity to build the capacity of Nigerians to capture employment and entrepreneurship opportunities from the ongoing gas revolution and energy transition,” he added.
Addressing the gathering, the Minister of State for Gas Resources, Obongemem Ekpo, represented by the Executive Vice President, Gas, Power and New Energy, NNPCL, Mr Olalekan Ogunleye, said the AKK gas would be a complete game changer in terms of the economic activities of the country.
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