The Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) was the toast of youths who on Thursday received international certification for specialised skills acquired under a 12-month Nigerian Content Non-compliance (NCNC) Remediation Training Programme mounted by Newcross Exploration and Production Limited.
At a close-out ceremony at the Lagos Hall, Golden Tulip Hotel, Port Harcourt, where the NCDMB Director of Monitoring and Evaluation, Alhaji Abdulmalik Halilu, charged the participants to sustain the commitment they exhibited during the programme and continually improve on the knowledge acquired.
The youths numbering 20 said they are sufficiently equipped for careers as skilled service providers in their diverse areas of specialisation.
“NCDMB has kept the fire burning since the enactment of the NOGICD [Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development] Act, 2010,” a graduand declared in summing up the appreciation and excitement of the trainees, who were drawn from all parts of the country through a competitive selection process.
As with other trainees who specialised in Information and Communication Technology-based skillsets such as Python Programming, the graduand stated that he is now well-grounded in data analytics and web designing, and could equally programme with python, known in the ICT industry as “object-oriented, high-level programming language,” and the like.
A female trainee boasted that she has acquired the capability to design and develop a calculator.
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Others who specialised in areas such as plumbing and pipe-fitting stated that they could use AutoCAD (computer-aided design) software in problem-solving in the work environment, and that they are capable of bridging gaps between the tasks of architects, engineers and artisans.
Trainees who focused on entrepreneurship said they have grasped the basics in setting up and growing businesses and have mastered the use of Excel, a spreadsheet programme for formatting, organising and calculating data.
As the graduands took turns to thank NCDMB for sponsorship of the programme and also Newcross E&P for top-grade training experience that has bolstered their career prospects, the Board’s Monitoring and Evaluation Director, represented by the General Manager, Quality Assurance, Ms. Lekoma Sonia Phimia, commended the trainees for their impressive conduct throughout the duration of the programme and urged them to remain focused on self-development.
She said they must eschew the tendency among business upstarts of placing undue emphasis on finance, noting that the beginning point is to ask oneself what one has to offer: “What is my value proposition?” Besides, “your target customers, who are they and how do you get to them?” According to her, they need to have clarity about such factors even as they consider matters of financing.
While encouraging the graduands to de-emphasise paid employment, she noted that “getting a job is a good thing but doing something on your own is better.”
Ms. Phimia also commended Newcross E&P “for meeting up the commitment” to do the remediation training, and for the experts and other resource persons brought in to make the programme such a huge success.
Spokesman for Newcross Kofi Blankson thanked NCDMB for coming up with the NCNC-Remediation Training Programme, which he said has provided the trainees with critical skills for productivity in industry and self-employment. He assured the Board that the company would give the best anytime it has such training tasks.
He also commended the trainees for their commitment to the programme and their overall performance, noting that they have obtained quality training and been exposed to world-class facilities. “You can get a job anywhere in the world with the certification received,” he asserted to the applause of the graduands.
The NCNC-Remediation Training Programme is one of several skills development programmes in NCDMB’s capacity building drive aimed at empowering Nigerian youths and creating a pool of human resources for the oil and gas industry.
