Say Nigeria has more qualified welders in Africa
President of Nigerian Welders Association (NWA), Dada Salmon, yesterday, refuted the claim by the Minister of Innovation, Science and Technology, Uche Nnaji, that the country lacks certified mechanical welders, while seeking government’s collaboration to bridge the gap in the labour force.
Nnaji, at the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding for academic and industry collaborations between National Centre for Technology Management (NACETEM), Federal University of Technology, Minna (FUTMINNA) and Neuro-Linguistic Programming Limited, lamented that Nigeria lost $10 billion yearly to imported welders engaged in various sectors of the economy.
He said the newly-commissioned Dangote Refinery employed about 11,000 welders, lamenting that none was Nigerian. He said although Nigeria has over one million welders, none had international certification, which would enable them to work in the oil and gas sectors of the economy.
But, according to Salmon, the association has a lot of capable hands to handle capital projects in Nigeria and identified Dangote sugar refinery, oil storage facility contract, West Africa gas line from Escravos to Ghana and AKK pipeline project from Kogi to Kaduna as some of the projects executed by the association.
He said: “The report by the minister about Nigeria not having enough certified welders is not true. Nigeria boasts more qualified welders in Africa. Most of our welders are qualified and certified by Nigeria Welders Institute (NWI) and have international experience in collaboration with foreigners.
“We urge the minister and government to dig deep into NWA and harness the quality labour force that the association possesses. By doing so, we can have a vibrant workforce and a great economy. The NWA is willing and available to collaborate with the American Petroleum Institute (API) and NWI for a better economy.”
