By Jimitota ONOYUME

PORT HARCOURT:  NIGER Delta Development Commission, NDDC has stepped up manpower for the oil and gas sector with the graduation of forty of its trainees in far away Turkey as International Welding Inspectors.  The programme was handled by its technical partner, the Nigerian Institute of Welding, NIW.

Commenting on the development, President of the NIW, Mr Solomon Edebiri said it would raise local participation in the oil and gas industry. According to him, as international welding inspectors they had been trained in construction, testing, formation and design.  Adding that they would continue to be relevant to the economy on matters relating to exploration.

“As long as we continue the process of extraction of oil and hydrocarbon in the ground we will continue to need international welding inspectors. Because the hydrocarbons would be transported through conduit lines and this is constructed with steel. So they have to be on ground to ensure the jobs are done to specification”.

He said the training process lasted about six months from selection stage to graduation, noting that participants were all drawn from the nine member states of the region.

“NDDC said they needed people across the nine states and it must be balanced in order with their oil producing quota, but to a certain level. Another thing we did was to ensure there was selection process which included aptitude test. And all who came top were selected but in all they came from the nine states of the region”. , he said.