Site Visit: Nigerian industry professionals visits ExxonMobil’s Training Centre in Akwa Ibom State

By Ndubuisi Micheal Obineme

ExxonMobil is achieving industry-leading support throughout Nigeria by maintaining a focus on the fundamentals, selectively investing in Nigerian local content and providing technical training to Nigerian graduates. The company continues to advance its local content portfolio, building upon attractive longer-term opportunities in Nigeria.

As part of its continued efforts towards local content development in Nigeria, ExxonMobil organized and hosted a site visit for the Nigerian oil and gas professionals that attended the Practical Nigerian Content 2017 in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State. Oil and Gas Republic Publication was among the accredited media with exclusive right to do an extensive coverage at ExxonMobil’s training centre in Eket, Akwa Ibom State.

Over 10 years, ExxonMobil has been providing technical programs to Nigerian graduates looking
to explore career opportunities in the oil and gas industry. Recent report shows that 85 percent of the candidates that graduated from the training Centre are fully employed for various oil and gas positions and some candidates have traveled out of Nigeria to explore international job opportunities in Europe, Canada and beyond.

ExxonMobil’s Training Centre in Eket maintains a leading position in developing local content capacity in Nigeria’s energy industry. The company offers an internationally recognized certification on Mechanical Engineering, Electrical/Electronics Engineering, Petroleum Engineering and Chemical Engineering which covers the technical and technological areas of the energy industry. The training centre is known to be the first of its kind in Nigeria as it also features oil and gas facilities used for various tasks such as offshore operation.

According to report, one of the candidates that graduated from the program has been employed in a multinational oil company in Houston as a design engineer. Over 700 candidates has graduated from the program, currently have about 40 students admitted to various discipline. The candidates are trained for about 20 month, 30 percent classroom and 70 percent practical training. There are about nine classrooms fully equipped, five specific classrooms for apprentice programs, workshop centre, three simulation centre for offshore operations. There is also a laboratory classroom used for practical works and assignments.

The programs is open to applicants with ordinary National Diploma (ND) from polytechnics, College of Technology. The admission process is very transparent as qualified candidates are usually selected nationwide through screening at ExxonMobil’s centres in Lagos and Uyo.

The program is divided into three phases. The first phase usually last up to 8 months, the second phase comprises various discipline, candidates are divided into four groups which includes the electrical, mechanical, process and instrumentation. While, the third phase is the continuation of the discipline with the final examination added to it.

After the completion of the program, ExxonMobil awards each candidate with a certificate of completion, City & Guilds Level 4.

ExxonMobil is on track to energize local content and human capacity development in Nigeria. The company is also enhancing resource value through practical training and optimization of technology application in Nigeria.