Kunle Awosiyan
Beside the enormous infrastructural developments that willcome through its Corporate Social Responsibility, DangotePetroleum Refinery will naturally energise other businesses along Ibeju-Lekki corridor. This was the import of Professor Paul Alaje’s message as he spoke on the refinery. Alaje is of the SPM Professionals, the nation’s economic development research firm.
He is of the opinion that apart from the petroleum products that the refinery will give to the country, Africa and the world, it will enhance business development and alleviate the economic situation of the host communities as the first beneficiary of the $19 billion investment that is sitting prominently on Lekki Free Trade Zone, Lagos.
But the concern of most professionals is the “skillability” of the youth in the communities as to whether they can fit in to the technology of oil refinery.
So that what happened in the Niger Delta when the unskilled youth felt alienated in their own lands because the oil companies failed to employ them, local government in Ibeju-Lekki has started sensitizing the youths on skill acquisition so that they can be relevant in the scheme of things.
The refinery is estimated to produce 650,000 barrels per day and employ over 100,000 Nigerian It is also expected to generate over $21 billion in revenue.
These are what the youths in the communities around the place will have to look into and see how they will get engaged and benefit from. But the question is whether they have gotten the necessary skills.
According to investigation by Echonews, the Dangote Group has the Indigenization policy and part of it is to formulate transitory technology to empower indigenous engineers to manage and operate its refineries.
A Technical consultant to Aliko Dangote on refinery and petrochemical projects, Babajide Soyode said that 22 young Nigerian engineers were sent to India for training a few years ago, adding about 900 engineers were also recruited in preparation for takeoff of the Dangote refineries project.
To Mr. Mohan Kumar, the company’s Director of Human Capital Management and Project Support young engineers were trained at Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited in India on how to manage the operations of the refinery.He noted that the engineers had gathered fundamental practical knowledge about refinery.
He maintained that the engineers are recruited and trained to witness the building of the refinery from scratch.
Kumar revealed that the engineers spent two months in classroom training and three months on the job training. He added that the 22 engineers were trained by experts who had over 45 years’ experience in refinery operations, stressing that the training became imperative due to the commitment of Dangote Group to promote local content by developing indigenous capacity.
Asked what is government is doing to ensure that many youths in Ibeju-Lekki Local Government Area of Lagos benefit immensely from the refinery, the Executive Chairman, LekkiLCDA, Rasaki Kasali, said that the government observed that the youths must have knowledge about what is going on in the industry first before they can be engaged.
According to him, skill is the main thing and the government had designed training scheme to promote the development and advancement of youths in the host communities through certified programme.
He said beneficiaries were chosen following a careful process of selection while urging the participants to be good ambassadors for the betterment and strategic positioning of the Lekki LCDA.
He said “This is our land, and there are also non-indigenous people that have become a part of us. We have put this training together for you so that you can also be knowledgeable about the operations of the industries and be able to represent us well when any of you get the opportunity.”
He said the cost of the training and a certificate worth over N200,000 had already been paid for by the council and that the participants were not expected to pay a dime to anybody.
Also, he said there would be an examination at the end of the one-week training, and that those who passed would be considered for certification.
