Firms boost capacity development at varsity

DANVIC Petroleum International Nigeria and its partner dGB Earth Sciences, Netherlands, have made a donation of a modern seismic interpretation software and training worth $1million to Covenant University, Ota Ogun State.

Through this initiative, Danvic Petroleum is also providing the requisite training to both the students and lecturers of the department Geophysics, applied Physics and Petroleum Engineering.

Managing Director, Danvic Petroleum International Corporation, Dr. Mayowa Afe, said in statement on Tuesday, that the initiative would make Nigerian university graduates industry ready and reduce the cost of training and re-training after graduation particularly in the face of dwindling oil price.

According to Afe, in the private university category, Covenant University will be the second beneficiary of this type of support / strategic collaboration with the oil and gas industry after Wesley University of Science &Technology (WUSTO) Ondo.

He disclosed that more than 20 Federal and State universities spread across the six geopolitical zones had already benefited from similar donations.

Afe Stated: “Transforming Nigeria will require the efforts of all stakeholders, the government, the private sector and the general public. To have the Nigeria of our dream, all these stakeholders must make concerted efforts and work as a team to take the nation to the desired height. No matter the approach employed to achieve this desire, one thing remains constant; the human resources required to make the change or drive the approach to the desired transformation. It can therefore never be overemphasised that human capacity development remains the most important factor in transforming any nation”.

Afe who is a past president of the Nigerian Association Petroleum Explorationists (NAPE), noted that the enactment of the Nigeria Content law, the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), coupled with the different intervention of the Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF) in human capacity development in form of scholarships, research grants, facility grants and partnership with private sectors, have brought about unprecedented development in the sector.

He described the partnership between the university and Danvic Petroleum International Corporation; an indigenous oil and gas service company with a training arm and with operations both in Nigeria and United States of America, as one of landmark success worthy of mentioning.

Afe said that the company has been working to ensure an all-round development of the oil and gas sector. “This synergy ensures the transfer of technology and knowledge from the industry to the academia, for onward passage to the students. This way, the knowledge gap between the oil & gas industries and the universities can be bridged. The students &lecturers are taught practical seismic interpretation using industry base software. Danvic and her technical partner, dGB Earthsciences(Netherlands) the copy write owners of OpendTect seismic interpretation tools have donated academic licenses worth more than $5 million to Nigerian universities.