The National Power Training Institute of Nigeria (NAPTIN) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Schneider Electric (SE), the global specialist in energy management to train more Engineers for the power sector.
According to the terms of the MoU, the company will be required to provide specialized training courses to NAPTIN trainers using its facility and also facilitate the delivery of practical trainings on deployment of consumables such as cables and wires and low/medium voltage power management systems at the NAPTIN facility in Abuja.
Speaking after the signing ceremony, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Power, Amb. Godknows Igali, described the deal as apt considering the global position of Schneider as manufacturer of electricity equipment.
He said the partnership would further enhance the local content initiative of the federal government since some of the engineers would be trained in France, therefore called on other corporate entities in Nigeria to follow the developmental efforts of Schneider.
He said the power process in the country was slow presently but expressed hopes that things would change in no distant time, since according to him, the new owners are still settling down, building and expanding capacities.
Also speaking, the Director General of NAPTIN, Engr. Reuben Okeke, said the partnership was to strengthened collaboration to take care of the power infrastructure in the country.
He said currently, the institute had over 600 engineers undergoing training, therefore, the collaboration was timely to produce the needed knowledgeable manpower to maintain and develop current achievement.
He said Schneider would train instructors who would in-turn train technicians that would be wiring houses to avoid accidents, adding that wiring licence would be issued after the training to installers.
He said four Universities would be involved in the first batch of training, namely; University of Lagos, Bayero University of Kano, Federal University of Technology, Minna and University of Science and Technology, Owerri.
On his part, the Country President of Schneider Electric, Marcel Hochet, noted that the agreement symbolised Schneider Electric’s training commitment with both the federal government and stakeholders in the power sector.
Marcel said the MoU would significantly impact on the ability of the government to deliver on its power sector commitment to the Nigerian people, raise skilled technical people for the power sector and also reduce unemployment rate in the country.
He emphasised that Schneider Electric stands ready to provide sustainable capacity development platforms for accelerated growth of the power sector, such as the public private partnership between Schneider Electric and NAPTIN.