WAV reiterates commitment to deepen local content
The West African Ventures (WAV), Nigeria’s foremost indigenous engineering, construction and installation service provider in the offshore sub-sector, has strongly reiterated its commitment to deepen local content in the oil and gas industry in other to create wide spread employment for millions of Nigerians.
In a statement, the company stated that it hopes to achieve this through the deployment of specialised state of the art in-country vessel fleets (JASCON Fleets), as well as hiring experienced Nigerians to play a crucial role towards the optimisation of Nigeria’s oil assets.
Edmund Ejiogu, general manager commercial and sales, WAV restated this during a visit of Maikanti Baru, group managing director, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to the company’s exhibition booth in the Nigerian corner sponsored by Petroleum Technology Association of Nigeria (PETAN) at the just ended 50th anniversary of the Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) which held in Houston, Texas in the USA.
WAV who was of the exhibitors at the conference, put up a good exhibition to boost Nigeria’s drive for an inclusive upstream industry where Nigerians will not only have the requisite skills but also the technological platform and capacity.
Baru, while at WAV stand at the Offshore Technology Conference, also reiterated government’s commitment to driving local content in the upstream segment of the Nigeria oil and gas Industry and appreciated and commended WAV as well as the other Nigerian companies which had an exhibition stand at the OTC.
He noted efforts in driving indigenous participation of Nigerians in the global oil and gas sector by being the 100 per cent preferred Nigerian partner to international oil companies in the successful execution of Offshore Construction, Installation and Production (OCIP) projects in record time.
Responding to the NNPC group managing director, Edmund Ejiogu said the company’s participation at the conference was to show to the world that Nigeria has come of age and can match best practice organizations across the world in these specialized areas.
Speaking in the same vein, Stanley Onuosa company secretary, WAV and manager, Nigerian Content Development, affirmed the fact that the company not only leverages world class assets, manpower and technical know-how in the delivery of its mandates, but is also helping to train new crop of local skills in diverse areas of Nigeria’s oil and gas operations.
He added that the company’s participation in the 50th Anniversary of the OTC was compelled by the need to help sustain the momentum already garnered by government’s local content manpower development policy under the able supervision of the Nigeria Content Development and Management Board (NCDMB).
It should be recalled that WAV recently trained 26 young Nigerians under the SONAM Development Project Pipeline and Okan Pig Receiver Platform Transport and Installation contract (SONAM/NC HCD).
Also speaking on Nigeria’s participation at the OTC, Ranti Omole, publicity secretary, PETAN’s affirmed that the Nigerian contingent to this year’s conference showcased the dynamism and potentials of the nation’s petroleum industry, while adding that the OTC also provided a unique platform for close interactions with leading international and major Nigerian oil service companies to share ideas on development of the sector.
Josephine Okojie