Adedapo Adesanya
By Adedapo Adesanya
Mrs Folashade Adekeye has emerged as the Chairperson of the Forum of the Directors of Oil & Gas Training & Vocational Education Institutes of the African Petroleum Producers Organisation (APPO).
Mrs Adekeye, who is the Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Academy, took over from the former chairperson, Mr Abdelkader Guenone, the Managing Director of the Algerian Petroleum Institute (API), during the second meeting of the forum, in Abuja, at the weekend.
She brings into the role over 30 years of experience and is expected to work with her colleagues from APPO Member Countries to foster more collaboration towards addressing the challenges of competencies, skill gaps, infrastructure, and poor funding in the organization’s training institutions.
Earlier in his keynote address at the opening ceremony of the meeting, the Group Chief Executive Officer of NNPC Limited, Mr Mele Kyari, represented by Mr Inuwa Danladi, Executive Vice President (Business Services), emphasized the importance of a standardized educational and training approach to meet the changing demands of the oil and gas industry.
Also in his keynote address, APPO’s Secretary General, Mr Omar Farouk Ibrahim, charged the Member Countries to work towards further enhancing collaborative efforts to establish Oil & Gas Centres of Excellence across the African continent.
Mr Ibrahim, also from Nigeria, said having good knowledge of the Forum’s challenges would enable APPO Member Countries to make recommendations and provide solutions in areas such as Oil & Gas project funding, technology adoption, and the formation of Africa Energy Bank.
The Africa Energy Bank is a project that aims to fund energy initiatives in Africa, particularly exploration and production of oil and gas established by APPO and the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank). The objective is to close the financial gap in Africa’s energy sector, especially while big banks are shifting their financing away from fossil fuel projects because of environmental concerns.
He concluded that such collaboration by all member countries will guarantee Africa’s energy accessibility, affordability and sustainability, which overall, will strengthen her economies and bring prosperity to its citizens.
