PTDF, SSDC Explore Skills-Development Partnership

The South-south Development Commission wants to use existing training capacity rather than build a parallel system as it expands skills-development programmes for young people in Nigeria’s South-south region.

SSDC Managing Director and Chief Executive Usoro Akpabio proposed joint training opportunities with the Petroleum Technology Development Fund, particularly through PTDF’s Centre for Skills Development and Training in Port Harcourt. She raised the proposal during a visit to PTDF Executive Secretary Shuaibu Aliyu in Abuja.

Akpabio suggested that both organisations appoint focal persons to identify immediate areas of common interest and prepare a framework for joint implementation. She said PTDF’s expertise and infrastructure could help the commission broaden its skills initiatives without duplicating existing structures.

Aliyu said PTDF was ready to work with the commission to accelerate the delivery of their mandates. He described the South-south region as central to Nigeria’s oil and gas industry and linked the federal government’s establishment of the SSDC to the importance attached to the region.