Indian trained Graduate engineers for the Dangote Refinery, have promised to deploy the knowledge and skills they have acquired to ensure that the recurring seasonal fuel scarcity in Nigeria is permanently halted.
The engineers, who described their experiences as second to none in the history of Nigeria oil and gas sector, vowed that never again would Nigeria experience fuel scarcity as the Dangote refinery would be operated in the most efficient manner.
The returned engineers, who narrated their experiences at the Refinery premises at Lekki, Lagos said that they had both theory and practical training in India and that they witnessed a refinery a refinery being built from the scratch.
Opeyemi Oyedepo, who is a process engineer and Igwe John, a petroleum and gas engineer told the management how they were made to be part of trouble shooting during their training, a development that boosted their confidence.
Meanwhile, the Technical Adviser to Dangote Refinery, Engineer Babajide Soyode expressed satisfaction that the best of the graduate engineers were selected as attested to by the trainer’s in India.
He said that the management is proud of the engineers who have displayed a thorough understanding of what they learnt in India, adding that India has the biggest refinery in the world and are ready to train young engineers.
The company’s Director of Human Capital Management and Project Support, Mohan Kumar, while presenting the returnee engineers said the company is laying a solid foundation for the takeoff with the training of the engineers.
He said that the young engineers were trained at Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd. in India on how to manage the operations of the refinery.
Kumar added that the engineers had gathered fundamental practical knowledge about refinery.
According to him, the engineers are recruited and trained to witness the building of the refinery from scratch. He said the engineers spent two months in classroom training and three months on the job training.
Kumar explained that the 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.
“The engineers are expected to also transfer the skills acquired to other Nigerians when the refinery comes on stream.”
Dangote Oil Refinery Company had, in preparation for takeoff, sent in batches of local Graduate engineers to Bharat Refinery in India, the biggest in the world, for training in refinery operation and production.
The refinery is hoped to operate with a capacity of 650,000 bpd and will commence operation as the country’s four refineries have gone comatose. [myad]
