Power sector requires 17,000 technical staff to generate 40,000mw – Official

The nation’s power sector requires 17, 000 technical staff to generate 40,000 megawatts of power to stablise the country’s energy sector.

Mr Reuben Okeke, the Director General, National Training Institute of Nigeria (NAPTIN), stated this at the 2013/2014 Session of NAPTIN’s Graduate Skills Development Programme induction on Thursday in Abuja.

The director general, who said shortage of manpower was a major challenge facing the energy sector, expressed the need to train more young people.

According to him, 308 trainees comprising 291 males and 17 female, as well as 236 electrical engineers and 72 mechanical engineers are involved in the programme.

He said that many state governments sponsored some of the trainees while some of them sponsored themselves for the programme.

Earlier, the Minister of Power, Prof Chinedu Nebo, said that the power sector recently witnessed an increase in infrastructural development.

He called on stakeholders in the energy sector to assist in training more personnel in the industry.

The minister, who was represented by the Director of Human Resources Management in the ministry, Mrs Grace Papka, thanked NAPTIN for training a lot of personnel in the industry.

Nebo said the manpower shortage in the sector would to be filled up by the young trainees on completion of the training. (NAN)