Twenty-four instructors from Uganda Petroleum Institute Kigumba-UPIK based in Kiryandongo district have left Uganda for France for a month-long robust training on oil and gas. The training fully bankrolled by the World Bank under the Albertine Regional Sustainable Development Project-ARSDP is expected to take place at the French Institute of Petroleum-IFP in France.
Florence Okullo, the Assistant Commissioner in the department of scholarships, awards and international relations in the Ministry of Education and Sports who represented the Permanent Secretary, Kate Lamaro during the flag of the trainees on Wednesday noted that Uganda’s Oil and Gas sector is still virgin. She explained that the month-long training will enable the instructors to learn from the best and promote industry-driven standards that comply with global standards.
She explained that ever since the discovery of commercially viable and exploitable oil and gas reserves in the Albertine, the government has dedicated efforts to uplift and develop the Albertine region to ensure that it is ready for a beneficial extractive process. Lamaro said that the Ministry of Education and Sports is committed and has shown leadership and strategic direction in the development of appropriate skills, technical expertise as well as services and tools to support the development of Uganda’s petroleum industry.
She explained that the establishment of UPIK in 2009 was to create a world-class centre of excellence for Oil and Gas training that would build the right workforce for the development phase.
According to Lamaro, through ARSDP, UPIK partnered with the French Institute of Petroleum-IFP training from France to support the institution to adopt its curricula and training infrastructure to international standards, adding that the partnership has seen the institution develop five competency-based Oil and gas courses for technicians, construct and equip five new training workshops for the delivery the courses.
The workshops are meant to train the students in upstream and downstream petroleum studies, Electrical maintenance, Instrumentation maintenance, welding as well as metal fabrication and material testing lab.
Lamaro tasked the trainees to jealously utilize the training to gain tremendous networking opportunities, saying they should treat the training as a tour.
Honey Malinga, the Acting director Directorate of Petroleum in the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development tasked the trainees to observe a high level of discipline while in France and take the training seriously.
Agnes Arach, the coordinator of ARSDP component III that is funding the training, said the entire month of training and a trip to France will cost Shillings 1.2 billion. She explained that although the government has invested in infrastructure, equipment and many other needed facilities, they would yield nothing without a well-trained human resource.
Benard Ongodia, the Principal UPIK says the institute has undergone a complete transformation since its inception in 2009, adding that they are committed to keeping its vision of being a global centre of excellence in the provision of education and training for petroleum and allied sectors.
He applauded the government for allocating a lot of resources both through subvention and ARSDP, which has enabled the institute to become a formidable training partner for the oil and gas industry.
Clare Katana, one of the trainees, said that this is a golden opportunity since they will be able to get more training in the oil and gas sector and also get to know how other countries are handling the sector.
Oscar Kamukuku, another trainee said the oil and gas sector is very critical and therefore requires vast knowledge globally.
ARSDP is a US$145 Million Multi-sectoral project that was designed by the government of Uganda with support from the world bank to improve regional and local access to infrastructure, markets and skills development in the Albertine region.
Component III of the project, which is being implemented by the Ministry of Education and Sports has attracted US$ 34.2 for skills development in the Albertine region.
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