Dangote Refinery returnee graduate engineers to end fuel scarcity in Nigeria

Returnee indigenous India trained graduate engineers of the Dangote Refinery have vowed to deploy the knowledge and skills acquired during the training to ensure Nigeria is saved the embarrassment of fuel scarcity when the refinery come on stream.

The engineers who described their experience as second to none in the history of Nigeria oil and gas sector said never again would Nigeria experience fuel scarcity as the Dangote refinery would be operated in the most efficient manner.

In preparation for take off, Dangote Oil Refinery Company had earlier sent in batches local graduates engineers to Bharat Refinery in India, arguably the biggest in the world for training in refinery operation and production.

The nation is anxiously awaiting the Dangote refinery with a capacity to produce 650,000 bpd to commence operation as the country’s four refinery have gone comatose.

Reliving their experience to the management of the copy on return one after another, at the Refinery premises at Lekki, Lagos the engineers said they had both theory and practical training in India and they are also having a very rare opportunity to witness a refinery of the Dangote’s size being built from the scratch.

Opeyemi Oyedepo, Process engineer and Igwe John, petroleum and gas engineer told the management how they are made to be part of trouble shooting during their training, a development that has boosted their confidence that Dangote Refinery with most modern facilities will eradicate perennial fuel scarcity in Nigeria.

Speaking further on the benefits of the training to Dangote Refinery, the engineers stated that the company would henceforth enjoy increased value of human asset; improved ability to implement and realize specific goal within timeframe.

The graduate engineers also listed as part of the benefits efficient refinery operations and adherence to quality and standard.

In his comment, Technical Adviser to Dangote Refinery, Engr. Babajide Soyode expressed satisfaction that the best of the graduate engineers were selected as attested to by the the trainer’s in India.

He said the management was proud of the engineers as they have displayed a thorough understanding of what they learnt in India.

On the choice of India for the training, Engr Soyode said India has the biggest refinery in the world and are ready to train young engineers unlike the disposition in Europe and other part of the Western world.

The company’s Director of Human Capital Management and Project Support, Mohan Kumar, while presenting the returnee engineers said the company is laying a solid foundation for take off with the training of the engineers.

He said the young engineers were trained at Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd. in India on how to manage the operations of the refinery.

Kumar added that the engineers had gathered fundamental practical knowledge about refinery.

According to him, the engineers are recruited and trained to witness the building of the refinery from scratch. He said the engineers spent two months in classroom training and three months on the job training.

Kumar explained that the engineers were trained by experts who had over 45 years experience in refinery operations, stressing that the training became imperative due to the commitment of Dangote Group to promote local content by developing indigenous capacity.

He stated that “the engineers are expected to also transfer the skills acquired to other Nigerians when the refinery comes on stream”.