AFRICAN CONTENT DEVELOPMENT IN WELDING TECHNOLOGY
The Welding Federation (TWF) Assembly 5.0 hosted by WESU in Uganda on the 17-19 October ,2022 has come and gone.
TWF 5.0 focused on building welding capacity to optimize materials manufacturing across all value chain industries in East Africa. The hybrid event which had participants from Nigeria, South Africa, Cameroon, Uganda, Ethiopia, Liberia, Egypt, Algeria, Zimbabwe witnessed multilateral interaction and networking towards growing welding technology in Africa to effectively and efficiently complement the growing quest for Africanization of Africa’s energy industries.
In attendance at this workshop were the Uganda Ministry of Labor, Petroleum Authority Uganda, Association of Uganda Oil Services Providers, Uganda Industrial Research Institute, Uganda National Oil Company, SINOPEC, Uganda Petroleum Institute, Steel and Tube, SIWET, Seb Engineering, Makerere University and a host of other frontline companies.
The theme, Establishing and Growing national content in welding indeed addressed fundamental issues to growing welding and related capacity in Africa with a focus on East Africa. Presentations by Mr. Martin Wandera, Dennis Kamurasi, James Okwi, David Ilukoyi and Ronald Ssezibwa all addressed the urgency and necessity for content development, ownership and maximization of industries through linkage and collaboration.
At the moment, Uganda and Ethiopia both represent East Africa on the Board of TWF which is structured into regional representation. In line with the key mandate of the Federation, TWF 5.0 aided the formal launch of Welders Society Uganda and will steadily provide all the technical support to aid the impact of WESU’s establishment and existence in the Ugandan oil and gas as well as other industries.
“We need to skill up and open up Africa to complement each other. Key collaborations that guarantee visible and sustainable socioeconomic impact beyond just training for Uganda and Africa” Mr. Martin Wandera of Uganda the Ministry of Labor.
According to Ronald Ssezibwa, in the next 10 years Uganda should have developed adequate capacity both to address local challenges and to compliment human capacity need across Africa’s industries. TWF is a manufacturing solutions platform, not just a welding skill platform. “Africa does not just need skill development, there are enough skilled idle hands all over Africa. Africa needs industry solutions that will build skills, create opportunities and sustain opportunities to keep Africa alive for all the youths of Africa.” In the words of Ayo Adeniyi, Chief Executive at the Nigerian Institute of Welding
TWF 5.0 is in continuation of TWF sensitization and knowledge building series in manufacturing across Africa. It focused on building capacity and addressing technicality to grow economic impact through welding across Uganda, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Mozambique, Sudan, Kenya, Somalia, Rwanda, Zambia, Zimbabwe Eritrea etc.
Get updates on African content development in welding and related technologies by visiting www.weldfa.org
