By Stella Odueme
In furtherance of its resolve to enhance the development, penetration, and utilization of Nigeria’s abundant gas resources, the Federal Government in Abuja inaugurated two Technical Working Groups (TWGs) to drive the objectives of the National Gas Expansion Programme (NGEP).
The TWGs, comprising NGEP/National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) and NGEP/Council of Registered Builders of Nigeria (CORBON), were inaugurated by the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Petroleum Resources, Amb. Nicholas Agbo Ella.
A statement by the Assistant Director of Information, Chris Ugwuegbulam on Thursday said that in his inauguration address, the Permanent Secretary remarked that the occasion would herald a new dawn for the technical education sector which he noted, had over the years maintained status quo irrespective of the new innovations and technologies that trended globally.
“it is now a norm that graduands of Technical Colleges possess soft skills that makes them entrepreneurs as soon as they leave the institution. This is a deliberate effort of those nations to introduce specialized skills into the curriculum of higher institutions, most especially technical colleges that bridge the skill gaps in key sectors of the economy”
Ella posited that technology and innovation are driven by people, hence the need to make conscious effort to introduce specialize training modules to Nigeria’s technical colleges’ curriculum.
“Therefore, it is in view of the foregoing that the Technical Working Group between the National Gas Expansion Programme (NGEP) and National Board of Technical Education (NBTE) will be inaugurated to amongst other things develop specialized training module to the existing curriculum for Technical Colleges”
The objective of the Technical Working Group as spelt out by the Permanent Secretary was to design a comprehensive curriculum for the training of gas (LPG, CNG, LNG and Bio-Gas) Entrepreneurs in Mono and Polytechnics.
While inaugurating the Technical Working Group between the NGEP and the Council of Registered Builders of Nigeria (CORBON), the Permanent Secretary stated that, It was a well-known fact that most modern cities in developed countries worldwide had evolved to energy smart cities where energy, specifically Gas and other utilities including water, electrical and telecommunication cablings such as fibre optics, are piped to districts and estates.
He noted that techniques involved in making cities become energy smart was usually through reticulation, which is, piping networks supplying gas around buildings, industrial sites, and households.
“However, one of the key tools in creating energy smart city is the National Building Code which in essence, sets the guidelines on building pre-design, designs, construction and post-construction stages with a view to ensuring quality, safety and proficiency in the building Industry. The country currently has a National Building Code that is being reviewed but yet to be finalized”
The objective of the Technical Working Group between the NGEP and CORBON, according to the Permanent Secretary, was to make energy available in estates, districts, commercial and industrial sites.
In his remarks at the Inauguration ceremony, the Chairman of the National Gas Expansion Programme, Prof. Mohammed M. Ibrahim, said the inaugurations marked another historic phase in the quest for the nation to address its energy crisis.
He noted that while NGEP/CORBON TWG would look at gas reticulation in the building industry, the NGEP/NBTE TWG would explore ways of adding value and building capacity for gas entrepreneurship in Mono and Polytechnics in Nigeria.
Membership of NBTE Technical Working Group are: Special Assistant to the Executive Director of NBTE, Prof. Diya’Udden Basheer Hassan, Marketing Consultant, Engr. Patrick Yari, Deputy Director, Technical Trade Division Engr. Bashir Datti and a member, Dr. Zakari Abdullahi.
The membership of Technical Working Group (TWG) of COBRON are as follows: Registrar; Builder Adetunji Adeniran. Other members are: Builders Abdulmumuni Usman, Lawrence Manggei and Blessing Ojochenemi.
Their terms of references are to design a template for assessing and evaluating the current capacity (Human infrastructure including pedagogical tools) of Mono and Polytechnics in Nigeria to carry out training, Examine current gas distribution system in residential, commercial and industrial buildings in other countries among others.
The inauguration ceremony was a follow up to the inauguration of the Technical Working Groups of Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON) and National Directorate of Employment (NDE) that was carried out by the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Petroleum Resources, Amb. Nicholas Agbo Ella in September
Present at the event were Directors and staff of the Ministry of Petroleum Resources as well as delegations from NBTE and CORBON.
