A total of 170 young graduates have benefitted from the NCDMB/PETAN/SPDC Joint Venture Graduate Internship Programme, which provided them with hands-on experience by attaching them to indigenous technical oilfield service companies operating in the upstream and downstream sectors.
Out of these interns, 133 have secured employment with the participating companies, showcasing the programme’s effectiveness as a talent pipeline for Nigeria’s oil and gas industry.
The most recent batch of 49 interns graduated earlier this month in a ceremony held in Port Harcourt, after completing their internships, which began in 2022.
Speaking at the event, the Chairman of the Petroleum Technology Association of Nigeria (PETAN), Wole Ogunsanya, praised the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited (SPDC) Joint Venture for supporting the programme. He highlighted its role in developing local manpower for a critical sector of Nigeria’s economy.
The SPDC and PETAN launched the programme in 2014, attaching graduates to over 100 PETAN member companies, with SPDC providing monthly stipends. Since the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) joined the collaboration in 2022, the programme has run for two years, accommodating 100 interns.
The NCDMB/PETAN/SPDC JV Graduate Internship Programme has been widely recognized as a key human capital development initiative that promotes Nigerian content in the oil and gas sector.
‘Lanre Olawuyi, SPDC’s General Manager for Nigerian Content, emphasized the programme’s value: “This internship goes beyond learning. It equips fresh graduates with technical expertise and practical skills essential for their careers.”
Olawuyi also noted that the programme aligns with SPDC’s broader educational initiatives, contributing to the UNESCO ‘Education for All’ agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals, particularly in the Niger Delta region.
“We owe the programme’s success to the unwavering support of our JV partners—the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC), TotalEnergies, and Nigerian Agip Oil Company Limited—to whom we are deeply grateful,” he added.