Ghana seeks PTI partnership to boost petroleum training
Ghana’s National Petroleum Authority (NPA) has sought a partnership with the Petroleum Training Institute (PTI), Effurun, Delta State, to strengthen technical skills in its oil and gas sector and establish a petroleum training centre of excellence.
An NPA delegation visited the institute on Tuesday to explore collaboration, drawing on PTI’s more than five decades of experience in training personnel for the petroleum industry.
*Participants
Nathan Tamarapreye
Ghana’s National Petroleum Authority (NPA) has sought a partnership with the Petroleum Training Institute (PTI), Effurun, Delta State, to strengthen technical skills in its oil and gas sector and establish a petroleum training centre of excellence.
An NPA delegation visited the institute on Tuesday to explore collaboration, drawing on PTI’s more than five decades of experience in training personnel for the petroleum industry.
PTI’s Director of Research and Development, Dr Tina Isechei, received the delegation on behalf of the institute’s Principal and Chief Executive, Dr Samuel Onoji.
In his address, delivered by Isechei, Onoji expressed the institute’s readiness to establish a mutually beneficial partnership with Ghana. He described the visit as timely and important for regional cooperation in Africa’s petroleum industry.
He said PTI, established in 1972, had trained more than 50,000 personnel working in the oil and gas industry in Nigeria and abroad.
“PTI is ready and glad to be of help to the Ghana National Petroleum Authority in every conceivable way, having gathered the expertise over the 54 years of the institute’s existence,” he said.
Onoji attributed the institute’s reputation to expertise, experience, exclusivity and effectiveness, underpinned by practical training.
He said its curriculum was certified by the National Board for Technical Education and supported by specialised facilities and experienced instructors.
He identified the institute’s strengths as welding and fabrication, drilling and well control, National Skills Qualification certification, skills development, firefighting, underwater welding and research.
Onoji also invited the delegation to PTI’s Annual International Conference on Hydrocarbon Science and Technology, which he said had supported workforce development since 2023.
The delegation’s leader and NPA Director of Research, Dr Joseph Wilson, said Ghana chose Nigeria as a partner because of longstanding bilateral ties and the need to strengthen cooperation among African countries.
“We are here basically to deepen capacity,” Wilson said.
“Nigeria, being our big brother, became our desired destination for us to seek technical assistance to set up our own centre of excellence.”
He said the proposed collaboration would cover legal frameworks, technical assistance, stakeholder engagement, consultancy services and workforce development.
The delegation toured PTI’s specialised facilities, including its rig operations facility, where the Director of Rig Operations, Lawrence Uti, explained drilling principles and procedures.
The Director of Flow Station, Austin Ogugu, also guided the visitors through petroleum processing stages, from the wellhead and manifold to the separators and crude oil, gas and water chambers.
Other members of the delegation included NPA Director Bridgette Obiri-Yeboah; Director of Policy Mohammed Issah; Director of Commercial Services Eunice Nyarko; and Director of Human Resources Sedinam Mammara.
Also present were Technical Aide Mudasiru Malana; Head of Quality Control Saed Ubeidaleh; Director of Business Development Godwin Konu; and George Afful, who oversees talent development.
