The government of Ghana has received $4.5 million from Aker Energy to train some 200 Ghanaians in the Accelerated Oil and Gas Capacity (AOGC) Program.
The programme which was launched in November 2017 by President Akufo-Addo is aimed at creating opportunities for Ghanaians in the upstream oil and gas sector.
At a presser in Accra on Wednesday December 5, 2018, the Minister of Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah highlighted that among other things, the programme is also aimed at developing the capacities of Ghanaian technical and vocational institutions as well as universities to offer world class training and certifications for the oil and gas industry.
He said following the launch of the programme, the AOGC Secretariat has been set up under the Petroleum Commission to see to the realization of the objectives of the programme.
“One of its significant successes so far is the securing of some $4.5 million from Aker Energy to provide technical trainings and certifications to train mechanical technicians, electrical technicians, instrumentation technicians, welders and metal fabricators, NDT Technicians, and to ensure that they all at the same time acquire BOSIET (Basic Offshore Induction and Emergency training) to facilitate their smooth transition into the upstream petroleum sector as qualified technicians”, he said.
ALSO READ: Parliament pushes for more local content in petroleum sector
“This will add a further 200 skilled workers to the upstream industry and ensure that increasingly more of the jobs in the upstream sector are now done by Ghanaians. Training starts in January and by December the last cohort should have been completed,” he explained.
The partners for the AOGC programme are the Ministry of Energy, Worldbank, Republic of Norway, GNPC, Tullow, HESS, Petroleum Commision, Enterprise Development Sector, Pyxera Global, Invest Africa, GE and GOGIG.
