Nigeria’s Folashade Adekeye has emerged Chairperson, Forum of the Directors of Oil and Gas Training and Vocational Education Institutes of the African Petroleum Producers Organisation (APPO).
Adekeye, who is the Director, NNPC Academy, took over from the former chairperson, Mr Abdelkader Guenone, the Managing Director of the Algerian Petroleum Institute (API), during the second meeting of the Forum in Abuja.
This was made known in a statement issued by Olufemi Soneye, the Chief Corporate Communications Officer, NNPC Ltd. on Sunday.
Adekeye, who heads the NNPC’s oil and gas training arm, brings to bear more than 30 years of experience and is expected to work with her colleagues from APPO Member countries.
According to Soneye, this is in order to foster more collaboration towards addressing the challenges of competences, skills gaps, infrastructure, and poor funding in the organisation’s training institutions.
In his keynote address at the opening of the meeting, the Group Chief Executive Officer of NNPC Ltd., Mele Kyari emphasised the importance of a standardised educational and training approach.
Kyari, represented by Inuwa Danladi, the Executive Vice President (Business Services), said standardised education would help to meet the changing demands of the oil and gas industry.
Also in his keynote address, APPO’s Secretary-General, Dr Omar Farouk Ibrahim, charged the Member Countries to work towards further enhancing collaborative efforts to establish Oil and Gas Centres of Excellence across the African continent.
Ibrahim, also from Nigeria, said having good knowledge of the Forum’s challenges would enable APPO Member Countries to make recommendations.
He said it would also enable them to provide solutions in areas such as Oil and Gas project funding, technology adoption, and the formation of Africa Energy Bank.
He said that such collaboration by all member countries would guarantee Africa’s energy accessibility, affordability and sustainability, which overall, would strengthen her economies and bring prosperity to its citizens. (NAN)
