Energy Worth with Agency Report
The National Power Training Institute of Nigeria (NAPTIN) is to train 545 of Nigerian and Ghanaian electricity workers under its collaboration with the Association of Power Utilities of Africa (APUA).
The Acting Managing Director of the institute, Mr. Ahmed Bolaji Nagode, disclosed recently at the NAPTIN Regional Training Centre in Lagos to kick start the training of 300 staff of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) under the APUA training programme, said the institute was privileged to be the only APUA Centre of Excellence in the whole of English speaking West Africa.
“This feat was achieved as a result of NAPTIN meeting the requirements of APUA for admission into the African Network of Centre of Excellence in Electricity (ANCEE) culminating in an MOU with APUA whose dividend we are witnessing today. Under the collaboration NAPTIN will be training staff of Power Utilities in Nigeria and Ghana to the tune of 545. TCN alone constitutes 300 and the Distribution companies will be 203,VRA/Gridco Ghana 42,” Nagode said.
Nagode added that this initiative will not only lead to enhancement of the capacity and competency of the manpower of these utilities, but also transform into improvement in the delivery of electricity to the countries and also serve as a mean of generating foreign exchange to the nation because this contract with APUA is in Euro currency and being paid to our TSA account.
According to him, the training programme is being implemented in batches in order not to unsettle the smooth and scheduled operations of the utilities.
He said the first batch of 106, which started last week, is of two trades – Transformer and Switch gears Maintenance with 60 trainees, adding that this is taking place in Lagos while the Power System Protection training of 46 staff is holding simultaneously in NAPTIN’s Kainji Regional Training Centre, New Bussa in Niger State.
Nagode said NAPTIN’s venture into regional and international partnership was in fulfillment of its target under the Federal Ministry of Power, Works and Housing Medium Term Sector Strategy (MTSS) goals.
“The National Power Training Institute of Nigeria (NAPTIN) has keyed into President Mohammed Buhari’s administration initiative of job creation for Nigerian teeming youths. NAPTIN will this year be training young Nigerians who seek to develop career in the power sector, on skills acquisition programmes that are in high demand in the privatised utilities namely, Distribution Substation Operation (DSO), Cable Jointing, Lines Maintenance, and Electrical Fitting. In addition to this is the training on Solar PV Installation and Maintenance which will give those who graduate from this course opportunity to be self-employed and also play a critical role in the country’s drive towards promoting renewable energy as an alternative source of power production. The first batch for the First Quarter is Two Hundred (200) drawn across the 6 geo political zones,” he explained.
According to him, NAPTIN has a robust curriculum, state of the arts training equipments and highly trained faculty in Solar PV system that has qualified her as a leading training outfit in this area.
He stated that NAPTIN’s pedigree has earned her recognition as centre for training and certification by ECOWAS Centre for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (ECREEE) and also a collaboration with International Finance Corporation (IFC) to train young Nigerians in Solar PV Skills acquisition.
“We have just concluded a training collaboration with WINROCK, under the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Programme (REEP) sponsored by USAID. The Training took place at our Ijora Regional Training Centre,” he added.
