Lagos, Nigeria, November 10, 2010
- IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, has formally launched the Fabrication Training Center (FTC) Foundation, which will run an IFC-supported training center that is providing management and technical training to engineers, welders, and fabrication companies in Nigeria’s oil and gas industry.
The $600,000 Fabrication Training Center, built with support from IFC and a number of Nigerian and Norwegian partners was designed to provide long-term support to Nigeria’s oil and gas sector, a major contributor to Nigeria’s economy.
The Foundation will take over management of the training center from IFC’s Enhancing the Fabrication Capabilities in the Nigerian Oil & Gas Industry
(EFCN) Program.
Thila Chikwanda, Sector Lead, IFC Sustainable Business Advisory (Africa) – Oil, Gas and Mining, said, “This training facility is helping Nigerian engineering companies develop their employees skills so they can win contracts in the country’s oil and gas sector. The facility should provide long-term support to Nigeria’s oil and gas industry.”
The board of the Fabrication Training Centre Foundation
was inaugurated at a maiden meeting on November 2, 2010 at the IFC offices in Lagos. This event marked a key step in IFC’s strategy to provide training and support to help Nigerian fabrication businesses meet international standards and execute larger, multi-discipline fabrication projects.
The Foundation
will provide a stable governance structure for the training center, managing it as a self-sustaining centre of excellence to deliver internationally-certified training programs in fabrication and associated fields.
Since 2008, IFC has been supporting skills development at engineering firms in Nigeria’s oil and gas sector through the EFCN Program. Seven SMEs, two institutional bodies and six international oil companies in Nigeria have benefitted from the program’s technical skills and capacity building programs and workshops.
IFC’s partners in implementing the EFCN Program are: NORAD (Norwegian Agency for Development Corporation), NNPC (Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation), INTSOK (Norwegian foundation of oil and gas industry partners) and PTDF (Petroleum Technology Development Fund).
About IFC
IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, is the largest global development institution focused on the private sector in developing countries. We create opportunity for people to escape poverty and improve their lives. We do so by providing financing to help businesses employ more people and supply essential services, by mobilizing capital from others, and by delivering advisory services to ensure sustainable development. In a time of global economic uncertainty, our new investments climbed to a record $18 billion in fiscal 2010. For more information, visit
www.ifc.org
.