Not less than five young Nigerian graduates have been sponsored by Chevron Nigeria Limited, the operator of the NNPC/Chevron Joint Venture to a training course on remotely operated vehicle.
A remotely operated vehicle, also known as an underwater robot, is commonly used in deepwater operations for offshore hydrocarbon extraction.
The five Nigerians were nominated by the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board under the Nigerian Content Human Capacity Development Initiative.
A statement signed by Chevron’s General Manager, Policy, Government & Public Affairs, Mr. Deji Haastrup, on Wednesday, said qualified young Nigerians were being sponsored for the training as part of its efforts to assist the country acquire necessary manpower in the deep water sector of the oil and gas industry.
The statement said the five would benefit from a seven to thirteen week ROV training initiative, staing that two of them - Obaro Pereke and Tunbi Oluwakayode – recently left the country for Scotland to commence the training.
Speaking during the send-off, CNL Escravos-Gas-to-Liquid Integration and Completions Manager, Mr. Mike Tierney, said the sponsorship of the Nigerians for the ROV training was in line with the oil company’s human and business capacity development strategy.
“ROV operations are required for deepwater operations and are highly specialised and critical to the development of the oil and gas sector. It is our desire that Nigerians acquire the competence to increase their successful participation in the oil and gas business,” he was quoted as saying.
Speaking in the same vein, CNL’s Nigerian Content Development General Manager, Mr. Raymond Wilcox, said, “The intention of the programme is to enhance the competence of Nigerians in line with CNL’s commitment to the Federal Government’s Nigerian content development programme.”
NCDMB representative at the ceremony, Mr. Paul Zuhumben, implored the trainees to develop the right attitude and apply their knowledge of diversity effectively while in Scotland.
He commended Chevron for taking the decision to invest in the young Nigerians and encouraged the duo to perform well so that Chevron would be encouraged to sponsor more young Nigerians to the programme.
According to the statement, CNL has implemented strategies for training, capacity-building and employment of Nigerians and provided contracts and procurement opportunities to help create local jobs and technology transfer through local patronage, work scope reservation, fostering of business partnerships and domiciliation of work.
