World Bank, govt commit sh99b for oil and gas skills training

Jan 17, 2020

The funding will benefit 600 youth from 15 districts in the Albertine region

The government and the World Bank have committed $27m (sh99b) to train Ugandans in the oil and gas industry.

The World Bank committed $25m (sh91b) while the government contributed the rest for training in relevant technical skilling in oil and gas.

The funding will benefit 600 youth from 15 districts in the Albertine region through Albertine Region Sustainable Development Project (ARSDP) bursary scheme.

The districts include Hoima, Kiryadongo, Masindi, Kibaale, Nebbi, Nwoya, Kyenjojo, Kamwenge, Kikuube, Bunyangabu, Ntoroko, Kabalore, Buliisa, Pakwach and Kakumiro.

The scheme covers in plumbing, electrical maintenance and application, mechanical applications, carpentry and steel maintenance and training of international certified truck drivers. The training will range from between three months to six months.

The project will be implemented by KPMG, a financial and consultancy firm and the training will be conducted at Uganda Petroleum Institute, Kigumba, Sandmakers, and Uganda Standards Driving Agency.

The education ministry permanent secretary, Alex Kakooza, said after the discovery of oil in the Albertine region, some Ugandans went an extra mile to train in oil and gas courses in Uganda and other countries.

He said, however, that some people in preparation to work in oil and gas sector after the discovery, attained over qualifications while others got irrelevant skills which were unnecessary to work in the Ugandan oil and gas industry.

"When oil and gas were discovered, so many people sent their children abroad, and within to do oil courses and a number of them either did qualifications that are not yet required or some may not have been relevant," Kakooza said.

He said the training is geared towards producing relevant workers to be employed in the oil sector.

He also requested the trainers to equip participants with relevant skills to enable them access jobs in the oil and gas sector in Uganda.

This was during the signing of memorandum of understanding between education ministry, KPMG and training providers.

Dr Safinah Kisu Museene, the commissioner of business, technical, vocational education and training (BTVET) in the ministry said 40% of the beneficiaries will be female students.

Mohammed Ssebatindira, the manager at KPMG said the selection of the 600 beneficiaries will take place at their offices from Wednesday to Friday next week.

KPMG received over 7000 applicants and the screening process found 5500 eligible applications but only 600 are needed for the bursary scheme training.

Ssebatindira said they will select about 40 students from each district.

Government launched the ARSDP bursary scheme in 2018 to facilitate the more systematic sustainable and inclusive transformation of the Albertine region.

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