FOR decades, Ghana has relied entirely on cocoa and its few but fast-dwindling natural resources such as, manganese, bauxite and timber for the needed foreign exchange for its socio-economic development.
However, at a time when the minerals and timber are being exhausted, a new discovery — oil has been made.
Large reserves of the black gold has been found on the shores of the Western Region, which according to experts, when fully tapped, would put the country on the map of petroleum exporting countries.
Certainly, the country’s offshore oil wells are set to start pumping the commodity in 2010 with the prediction of 10 billion barrels of oil at Cape Three Point wells, now christened Jubilee Fields, supposed to be one of the biggest to be discovered in Africa in recent times.
With the discovery of this product in commercial quantities, taking into consideration the global energy demand, both in the medium and long term, the country’s oil industry has a huge potential of transforming the economy.
While the country’s oil imports had taken a big chunk of its foreign exchange earnings, the discovery of oil now will help Ghana to gain sufficient foreign exchange to consolidate its fragile economy and implement development projects. The exploration will also aid efforts at raising the standard of living of Ghanaians, for whom the industry will offer enormous employment opportunities.
However, the question that should engage the minds of the Government and other stakeholders is how prepared are Ghanaians to take advantage of the opportunities to be provided by the oil and gas industry to enable them derive the maximum benefits? Do the indigenous people have the relevant knowledge and skills to meet the labour demands of the industry?
Experiences from some of the African oil-producing countries, including Nigeria, Angola, Equatorial Guinea and Gabon reveal that the low engagement of indigenous people in their oil industries had seen the influx of expatriate workers into those countries.
This problem has always been attributed to a lack of relevant knowledge and practical skills by the local people, resulting in a situation where a scanty number of local people with professional backgrounds are recruited, while the majority with the requisite knowledge or skills are recruited as security guards for menial jobs.
Consequently, most of the operations and managerial positions in the industry are managed and controlled mostly by expatriates from process engineers, inspection personnel, geologists, mechanical engineers, material personnel, plant contractors, corrosion control personnel, financial accountants and electrical engineers, an unfortunate situation that has resulted in the payment of huge salaries to these expatriates.
While the engagement of expatriate oil workers, admittedly, will boost and sustain the country’s oil production, the low recruitment of indigenous people in the industry will not, in the long-term, serve the interest of the nation.
Therefore, if the country and its people should reap the expected benefits from the employment opportunities presented by the oil and gas industry, Ghana needs the right skills and the requisite education in petrochemical engineering programmes at the tertiary level.
It is for this reason that attempts by universities in the country, including the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) and the only private university, the All Nations University (ANU) in Koforidua to offer engineering-oriented programmes to train students in petrochemical engineering to equip them with the relevant knowledge and skills for the demands of the labour market in the oil industry should be applauded and supported by the Government and other stakeholders.
ANU has, indeed, shown an unflinching commitment to train students to meet the labour demands of the oil and gas industry in Ghana and the sub-region, in spite of the huge capital required for the purchase of laboratory equipment for such programmes.
The university’s readiness to offer a bachelor degree in Oil and Gas Engineering, starting from September, 14, 2009, followed an approval by the National Accreditation Board (NAB), which gave the university the greenlight following its acquisition of modern laboratory equipment for the programme and meeting other requirements for the undertaking of such programmes.
The institution, which is affiliated with the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), the SRM University in India, has already put up mod-tech laboratories for practical training of the students in Chemical Engineering, Process Control Laboratory, Thermodynamic Laboratory, Fluid Mechanics Laboratory, Process Instrumentation and Control Laboratory, Refining and Separation Processes laboratory and Computer Laboratory, among other issues.
Besides, the university has a well-resourced faculty, comprising 11 qualified lecturers: six from India and the rest from Ghana, who, according to the President of ANU, Dr Samuel Donkor, were more than prepared to provide quality tuition in the oil and gas programme to its students.
“In view of the over-increasing demand for petroleum and petrochemicals as energy resources and for consumption as commodity products, a curriculum in the branches of oil and gas was evolved by the university,” he stated.
Dr Donkor said the university, which was currently offering seven accredited programmes, took pride in offering these high technology-oriented professional degrees to young students aspiring for challenging careers, adding that “we are more than set to deliver quality tuition to produce qualified local expertise for the oil and gas industry”.
The president mentioned such other programmes as Biomedical Engineering, Electronics and Communications Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, Business Administration with options in Accounting, Banking and Finance, Entrepreneurship, Marketing, Human Resource Management and Biblical Studies being offered by ANU.
Standing tall among its peer private universities in the country, ANU, after being accredited by the NAB, began in November, 2002 with only 37 students.
Currently, the university, poised to complement the Government’s commitment to enhance the delivery of tertiary education in the country, has 98 full-time lecturers, a commitment premised on the fact that the quality of education a university can offer depends largely on the dedication and commitment of its faculty.
With a current student population of 1,800, ANU provides its students with the state-of-the-art laboratories to complement hands-on practical training.
The institution, through its partner organisation, the All Nations International Agency (ANIDA), has offered scholarships to more than 300 brilliant students to pursue higher education at the university since its establishment.
ANU is the first university in the country to introduce Electronics and Communications Engineering and among the first to introduce the Biomedical Engineering in the country and Africa.
Given the resolve of the ANU, and its collaboration with the KNUST, Ghana, unlike other oil-producing African countries, can be proud of producing the requisite human resource for the oil and gas industry.
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