Boss Mustapha, the secretary to the government of the federation, has urged the Petroleum Training Institute (PTI) to drive the federal government’s agenda of global movement towards cleaner sources of energy.

Mr Mustapha made the call during PTI’s 50th-anniversary conference/award ceremony in Abuja.

The SGF called on the institute to drive the government’s roadmap to end gas flaring.

”This should be part of your target for (the) growth and development of the oil and gas industry. I also urge the institute to re-access its relationship with the major players of the oil and gas sector with the aim of meeting their expectations,” he said.

He commended the institute for 50 years of delivering quality training in Nigeria and sub-Saharan Africa’s oil and gas industry.

“I congratulate PTI for preserving and maintaining the relevance of the oil and gas industry for 50 years and for organising this conference and award ceremony to celebrate the institute,” Mr Mustapha stated. “The vision of the founding fathers of PTI was to address the inadequacy of the indigenous requirements to man and operate an efficient petroleum industry.” 

The SGF further noted that the industry was largely dominated by foreign expatriates “who were at the forefront, and this brings about the exploitation of our crude oil production.”

He added, “This issue brought about the establishment of PTI to train our indigenous expatriate, which has today resulted in 50 years of sustainable training of workers in the industry and the graduation of over 50,000 students. Many of these trainees were absorbed as employees of the sector. I urged the institute to take stock of its performance and challenges in the face of today’s technology, as well as project its aspiration for (the) future.”

(NAN)