French development agency sets to support NAPTIN on vocation training .

ABUJA (Federal Ministry of Power Report)
The Permanent Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Power, Godknows Igali has said that the French Agence Francaise Development (AFD) in partnership with the National Power Training Institution of Nigeria (NAPTIN) which is the flagship agency for capacity development in the power sector is set to integrate the training needs of the privatized power sector.

While speaking at the inauguration ceremony for the steering committee comprised of officials from the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), the Federal Ministry of Finance, National Planning Commission, NAPTIN, DISCOS and GENCOS, Godknows Igali noted the that partnership venture will take cognizance of key parameters for development such as sustainability, financial autonomy and investment opportunities as well as monitoring and evaluation mechanisms.

Godknows Igali expressed gratitude on behalf of the Nigerian government for the initiative, saying it will assist NAPTIN towards accessing new sources of funding for its programmes aside from the conventional government allocations. He added that the initiative will enable NAPTIN to deliver on its capacity building mandate for the sector.

“As a knowledge – driven institution, NAPTIN will make the sector’s workforce more industry compliant. The diagnostic audit proposed by the steering committee will entail a detailed feasibility study on risk management strategies. The packaging of assistance will also include a study tour of Morocco for the purpose of under studying the model implored in their vocational training facilities,” he said.

He also thanked AFD and other development partners, including the Japanese International Co-operation Agency (JICA) for their continuous assistance and interventions, conveying gratitude from the Nigerian Government for the recent approval of 70 million Euros by AFD to strengthen the nation’s transmission network in the FCT and its environs.

The Project Manager of AFD, Celine Gratador in her remarks hinted that the 2-phase strategy of the committee will help to increase NAPTIN’s sustainable programmes. She mentioned that the new partnership between the French and Nigerian agencies, public and private will up-shoot NAPTIN’s training capabilities to higher levels.

The Director – General of NAPTIN, Reuben Okeke (Engr) earlier in his address described the AFD partnership as historic; noting that the intervention will boost the capacity of the critical workforce to fit into Nigeria’s power sector. He further averred that the inter-ministerial partners, Discos and Gencos will through synergy address the existing training gaps straight way for the privatized energy sector

Source: Fed. Min. Of Info.