Last Thursday 12th July 2018, Uganda’s first Lady & Minister for Education, Hon Janet Kataaha Museveni unveiled the Welders Certification Program in partnership with CNOOC Uganda so as to draw close opportunities for Ugandans in the Oil and Gas sector.
This is part of CNOOC Uganda’s efforts to train, skill and certify Ugandans, especially those in the Albertine region, as well as equip them with necessary skills and certification to participate in the budding Oil and Gas industry.
Hon. Janet Museveni thanked CNOOC for the initiative which shows commitment to National Content promotion.
Mr. Zhao Shunqiang, President, CNOOC Uganda said, ”As a responsible company, we believe one of the ways, we can be relevant and useful to the people in host communities is by enabling them to be competitive in the job market by giving them industry related training and certification.”
Mr. Zhao added that the program comes at an opportune time when there are opportunities in the upstream, midstream and other industries associated with oil and gas like the petrochemical industry. All these require specialist welders and other certified personal.
Mr. Zhao said that the Oil and Gas policy and the objective of the Government of Uganda is to involve as many Ugandans as possible in the industry. He said that CNOOC takes this very seriously and believes that local employees, once given the right skills and certification, would be effective and cost efficient as well as meet the government’s goal to transfer knowledge to Ugandans.
The Pilot Project will see 30 Welders certified in Shielded Metal Arc Welding (SMAW) ISO 9606 Certification for 1G (common for rotating pipes), 2G (horizontal position welding) and 3G (vertical position welding), which will last for 60 days, starting in July to September 2018 at the Sunmaker Oil & Gas Training Institute in Bugolobi, Kampala. The institutions involved include; Uganda Petroleum Institute Kigumba (UPIK), Uganda technical College-Kichwamba, St. Simon Peters Vocational Technical Institute, Nile Vocational Institute, Kyema Uganda Technical College.
