By Aduragbemi Omiyale
No fewer than 20 young engineers were on Thursday, July 1, 2021, inducted into the Young Engineers’ Programme (YEP) of Ikeja Electric, Nigeria’s largest electricity distribution company.
The inductees will undergo 12 months of comprehensive developmental training aimed to improve their capacity and practical field practice experience.
In the course of the study, they will have a blend of learning approaches; instructor-led classroom sessions, virtual sessions, field and on-the-job practical sessions to ensure effective learning transfer.
The scheme, in its sixth edition and targeted at young, dynamic, self-motivated and highly driven talents, was designed to be an immersive and experiential learning experience for selected engineers, focusing on processes, procedures and operations of the Nigerian electricity supply industry.
Speaking at the induction ceremony in Lagos, the Chief Executive Officer of Ikeja Electric, Mrs Folake Soetan, explained that the goal of the initiative is to build the capacity of technical manpower with requisite skills, with a key interest in infrastructural and human capital development of the power sector.
“The key is in ensuring proper knowledge transfer from our very experienced technical workforce to the engineers coming on board; that is the one way to ensure that we remain relevant to the needs of our customers, guaranteeing our esteemed customers who depend on us for power, a reliable and qualitative service,” she said.
Mrs Soetan noted that Ikeja Electric would continue to reinvest in its human capital to create a pipeline for the kind of leadership needed for future growth and development of the industry.
“This strategy is part of the company’s objective of infusing and developing the next generation of competent and reliable professionals who are expected to be groomed with a broader perspective and exposed to the entire Energy Value Chain as well as driving the company’s vision of being the provider of choice wherever energy is consumed,” she explained.
She further added that “the programme has been running for six years now and we have had several success stories. We expect that this set will even have more stories, especially in this era when our mantra in Ikeja Electric is Customer First, Technology Now.
With the recent launch of its internal mentorship program, the Engineers will also enjoy the privilege of mentorship from highly trained and experienced engineers in the industry who will act as mentors; offering a variety of professional experiences within a structure that provides opportunities to learn, grow, and ultimately succeed.
Ikeja Electric continues to invest heavily in training and capacity building programs targeted at advancing the aspiration of youths by providing them with the opportunity to be self-reliant as well as empowering them for a better life.
