NCDMB lauds Nigerdock as 49 trainees graduate from academy

The Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) has commended Nigerdock for graduating the last set of 49 vocational trainees in its Egina Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) project.

This is coming four months after the graduation of 49 trainees for the project, which was achieved through its Training and Development Academy (TDA).

The company, at a ceremony which held at its Snake Island Integrated Free zone, Apapa, Lagos, revealed that over four million man hours was spent at the fabrication school, with almost 250,000 man hours on the job training and with zero lost time injury (LTI).

Nigerdock’s Human Capacity Development Manager, Emeka Anazia, said unlike their professional counterparts, the training programme focused on welding, fitting and machining, while the trainees in the three categories went through structural and pipe techniques in their respective fields.

He explained that the participants exceeded the programme’s guidelines to give the machining trainees multiple skills that would prepare them for the labour market due to industry feedbacks that they were less marketable with one skill set.

“In the course of the training we employed a blend of techniques. We did mostly on-the-job-training, classroom and workshop training, formal training and certification, which were all tied around the Nigerdock Human Capacity Development (HCD) framework,” he added.

Anazia pointed out that the trainees exceeded the three and 4G certification specified in the contract to 6G and 6GR international certification, which has afforded some of them more than one certificate earned, as “third party international bodies were brought in to test them after the training.”

Executive Secretary of NCDMB, Simbi Wabote, who was represented by the board’s Content Manager, Iwhiwhu Maurice, appealed to the Egina FPSO project stakeholders-Samsung Heavy Industries Nigeria Limited (SHIN), Total Upstream Nigeria Limited (TUPNI) and Nigerdock to employ most of the trainees.

While commending the partners, Iwhiwhu said the board was confident that the participants acquired the skills set that would empower them to provide manpower and services for the sector, as well as compete with their global counterparts.

Group Corporate Affairs Director of Jagal, Joy Okebalama, reaffirmed Nigerdock’s commitment to continuously champion local content development in the country and lauded Samsung Heavy Industries Nigeria LTD, Total and NCDMB for supporting the programme.

In the programme, 47 men and two women were trained for 15 months, of which 24 welders, 19 fitters and six machinists were trained in fulfillment of the National Human Capacity Development (NHCD) obligations required by the NCDMB for the NNPC/Total sponsored Egina FPSO project.