Power Institute ToTrain 822 Fresh Engineers

The National Power
Training Institute of Nigeria (NAPTIN) is to train 822 fresh graduates in different aspects of engineering to manage the power sector.
The Director General of NAPTIN, Mr Reuben Okeke, stated this last Thursday in Abuja when the House Committee on Power visited the organisation as part of its oversight function.
He said the training, which is expected to start in October, would enhance the manpower needed to meet the challenges of the ongoing reforms in the power sector.
He told the lawmakers that 3000 engineers would retire soon in the sector due to old age, explaining that the training became necessary to avoid a vacuum.
Okeke said that the 822 trainees would fall short of the 8,400 engineers required to support the power reform agenda.
He also said that earlier in the year, the organisation got approval from Head of Service of the Federation to employ 82 instructors to assist the agency in its training programmes.
Okeke said the current instructors in the institute were ageing and needed to be replaced with a younger instructors.
He said NAPTIN was collaborating with the National Universities Commission and the Council for the Regulation of Engineers in Nigeria in efforts to meet the nation’s engineering needs in the power sector.
Okeke said the institute had received N1.1 billion out of N3.1 billion budgeted for capital projects this year.
Earlier, chairman of the committee, Mr Patrick Ikhariale, told the management of the institute that the committee had noted its operational constraints and successes.
He gave the assurance that the committee would do everything within its powers for the institute to get the necessary support to effectively discharge its responsibilities.
Ikhariale said members of the committee were conscious of the role of the institute in the power reform agenda and the long-term quest for improved power supply nationwide.