In a bid to grow local capacity in shipbuilding and engineering-related disciplines in the oil and gas sector, Samsung Heavy Industries Nigeria, in conjunction with the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas Company (NLNG), have sponsored over 60 Nigerian youths for training in Geoje, South Korea.
Speaking to newsmen at the departure point, General Manager, Samsung Heavy Industries Nigeria, Frank Ejizu, disclosed that the beneficiaries would be trained in different aspects of ship building, fabrication, painting, scaffolding, welding, naval architecture, ship design, fittings, mechanical and maintenance and other related ship building activities.
According to him, the trainees would be employed at the completion of the programme. He stated Samsung is determined to drive local content initiative through empowering Nigerians on training programmes to bridge the gap in engineering proficiency in the country.
According to him, “The initiative is actually human capacity development. We have a project with NLNG, which calls for training Nigerians in Korea for manning the NLNG vessels. So, that is why we had shortlisted these youths to go to Korea for training.
“It would make no sense to empower people in various skills in a given area, and then dump them like trash. That I think is not a wise venture.
“They are being given broad based training and when they are through and are back, we would definitely absorb them when eventually the vessels come in and are ready.”
He argued that the performance of trainees earlier engaged by the company under a similar scheme has encouraged the company to do more.
“Going down memory lane, the process has been very fruitful, because the ones we have sent out so far have conducted themselves well and that alone is an encouragement to us to further seek out more opportunities to engage in capacity building schemes for Nigerians that would benefit the country’s economy when such skills are applied.”
Recall that Samsung had earlier trained about 57 Nigerians who were certified in ship building and other aspects of ship development at the Samsung Heavy Shipyard in Korea.
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