The federal government has expressed worry over the dearth of structured staff training in the power sector.
Consequently, the Ministry of Power has been directed to restore the structured training programmes for workers in the sector as soon as possible.
This directive was handed down by the Vice President, Namadi Sambo at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, during the National Workshop on Power Sector Reforms.
According to the Vice President, “As an administration dedicated to the radical development of the power sector so that Nigeria can become one of the world’s largest economies by 2020, we are disturbed that structured staff training and development programmes have stopped since 1989.”
“This situation is unacceptable. Nigeria cannot develop the power sector in the radical way the long-suffering people deserve if our human resources in this sector are not developed properly. Consequently, the Ministry of Power has been directed to restore the structured training programmes as soon as possible,” he said.
He informed that the Ministry of Power had been mandated to come up with a five-year strategic plan for the development of the National Power Training Institute (NAPTIN).
“This administration wants NAPTIN to become the foremost institute for the development of human capital in the power sector in West Africa and even beyond,” he said.
He explained that government’s desire was to enable power sector employees work with state-of-the-art technology and to regularly undergo domestic and international courses.
It would be recalled that the Director General of NAPTIN, Reuben Okeke, in a recent interview, disclosed that 50 per cent of what was responsible for the poor performance of the power sector was not just because the country did not have the generating capacity, but the lack of human capital which was occasioned by the absence of structured training.
Okeke explained that the huge gap which existed since 1989 that training went down, has had a huge effect on the sector, adding that to a large extent, it what was responsible for the dismal performance of the power sector.
His words: “fifty per cent of what was responsible for the poor performance of the sector was not just because we did not have the generating capacity, but the human capital. You have to be well informed to know how to manage the little that you have, and if you don’t have that knowledge, it would be difficult for you to manage.”
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