South African trade union, Solidarity has kicked against the decision by the government to finance the country’s power utility company ESKOM from Government Employees Pension Fund (GEPF).
It has, thus, initiated a legal process to stop the decision.
According to the union, it has written a letter to the GEPF as well as the Public Investment Corporation (PIC), and it is demanding that the Trustees and the Board of these institutions should not accept the controversial plan to finance Eskom from the Fund.
In the letter, Solidarity called the Trustees’ attention to their fiduciary duties. The union also pointed out that individual trustees and board members will also be held personally liable for damages if they do not fulfil their fiduciary duty.
“The mandate of the GEPF and the PIC is to act in the best interest of the client. The board members and the trustees may not be influenced by the political agreements of other mandate givers. If goals other than the best investment return for the pension fund member are pursued, they would be unlawful,” the union said as reported by esi-africa.com.
According to Solidarity, if President Cyril Ramaphosa makes such an announcement in his State of the Nation address, it will have an undue influence on the mandate of the GEPF and the PIC. A political gun against the heads of the GEPF and the PIC will mean the decision will not be voluntary; it will be enforced.
According to the Solidarity letter, any step or action to use employees’ pensions to save Eskom or any other state enterprise would fall outside the mandate of the GEPF and the PIC, and it will also be a breach of the contractual agreement with the members of the fund.
“In no way can an investment in a totally insolvent enterprise be in the best interest of the pension fund member,” underlined the union.
Solidarity’s Chief Executive Dr Dirk Hermann, said “the trustees’ mandate is not to solve the country’s major socio-economic challenges. Nor is it their task to stimulate economic growth to create possible secondary benefit for pension fund members. Their mandate is to see to it that there is a primary benefit.”
Solidarity stated that it is aware of resistance to the controversial pension plan from several other unions.
“We will support every action against the plan that any other union comes up with. We need to attack the plan from as many angles as possible.”
The union also announced that it has budgeted sufficient funds for campaigns and litigation should government proceed with any other steps to use pension funds to finance other ailing state enterprises.
“We, therefore, do not only act in the interests of government officials but in the interests of all who are members of a pension fund,” stated Solidarity.
Source: www.energynewsafrica.com
General Electric (GE) has hosted women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) at a roundtable discussion to advance mentorship and leadership for female students at the Institute of National Polytechnique Félix Houphouët-Boigny (INPHB) in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, West Africa.
The session was led by four leaders in energy with exemplary resumés and combined decades of wisdom.
They included Kristin Carvell, Global Communications Leader, GE Gas Power; Kadidjatou Diallo, Managing Director, La Compagnie Ivoirienne de Production d’Electricité (CIPREL), Aphi Amoussou Nanan, Director of Generation, CI ENERGIES; and Bethel Nwaneri, Chief People Officer for GE Gas Power Sub Saharan Africa.
Participants discussed all things STEM including, why they chose a career in STEM, the value they feel it brings to our communities, and advice they would give to young women seeking to enter the field.
The roundtable discussion also focused on highlighting the need for strategic initiatives to sustain women in STEM-related careers to advocate for more diversity in energy and technology sectors and how this era of accelerated technological progress characterised by new innovations create a greater sense of urgency for companies to tap into the entire technical talent pool to realise sustainable, competitive advantage.GE has been a committed partner in diversity, inclusion and skills development in Ivory Coast.
In 2018, GE Power partnered with INPHB in Yamoussoukro to train engineering students.
During a six-month period, selected Ivorian students participated in technical and English Language proficiency internships at the GE Ghana office giving them exposure and training to ensure they can compete in the rapidly evolving global market.
Most recently, GE commissioned an English Language technology laboratory for the institution.
Speaking at the roundtable, Bethel Nwaneri, Chief People Officer for GE Gas Power Sub Saharan Africa, said that the initiative was a continuation of the ongoing partnership between GE and Ivory Coast aimed at investing in technical skills and talent particularly for women.
“Companies that seek to change the world should reflect the world. Beyond skills and talent development, mentorship is also important in increasing the representation of women in engineering, manufacturing, IT and product management roles. This is not just the right thing to do; it’s a necessary strategy to inject urgency into recruiting more women for technical roles.
“Our goal is to inspire the next generation of leaders and cultivate lasting interest in STEM careers,” she added.
GE is a historical player and a pioneer in the power sector in Ivory Coast.
The roundtable reflects GE’s commitment to building on the company’s strong presence in the region and continue to provide value for its customers.
Source: www.energynewsafrica.com
A former Deputy Minister for Power under the erstwhile National Democratic Congress administration, John Jinapor has described as false claims that the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) cannot refine crude oil from the country’s oil fields.
According to him, during the erstwhile NDC administration led by Mr John Dramani Mahama, an arrangement was made for TOR to process crude oil from Ghana’s oil fields.
“Our belief in accelerated development through value addition led us to reposition BOST and TOR. We, further, secured two million barrels of Ghana’s crude oil from the TEN fields to be processed by TOR.
“Unfortunately and sadly, our sterling performance in the oil and gas sector have been derailed by the incompetent, greedy and corrupt Akufo-Addo government and his cabal of family and friends.”
Speaking at a public forum organised by the opposition party, NDC, in reaction to the governing party’s Town Hall programme on Tuesday, the Yapei Kusawgu legislator said if NDC gets the opportunity to return to power, it would ensure that TOR is retooled.
“We shall also ensure value addition by resourcing, retooling and repositioning TOR to refine the crude oil for domestic consumption,” he stated.
He accused the governing party of engaging in some deals for their parochial interest.
According to him, in 2017, the NPP formed a company known as Stratcom Energy and till date, it delivers most of Ghana’s petroleum products.
“First of all, petroleum products or petrol or diesel or LC is a pass through, so it has nothing to do with capacity charges. And because of the regulation that we implemented, we are dealing with all forex losses. Do you know what they did? They took GHc300 million out of this money under the guise of capacity charges,” he explained.
Source: www.energynewsafrica.com
Ghana’s strategic oil stock keeping company, Bulk Oil Storage and Transportation (BOST) Company, is on its way to becoming attractive to investors following its ability to fully settle a 12-year-old GHc64 million credit facility contracted from the Ghana Commercial Bank (GCB).
The loan sourced from GCB in 2008 has attracted several penalties from the bank.
However, Managing Director of BOST, Edwin Nii Obodai Provencal has revealed that his outfit made the final payment of about GHc1.7million last month.
The company is now left with the US$60 million trade debt & Stanchart’s GHc100 million to settle.
“In 2017, when we came to power, we engaged GCB and the good news was that they waived off all penalties and other charges etc, with the promise that they were going to stick to our payment plan. So, that is what we have been doing since 2017, and the good news is that the last bit was cleared last month January. So, we have finished clearing the GCB debt,” Mr Provencal said.
He continued that “we are extremely excited. What this does is that it cleans our balance sheet. It contributes to our balance sheet so we can leverage it to borrow for our operations. We assure that going forward, any other facility we get, we will use a much-disciplined approach to get it.”
According to Mr Provencal, it would take an amount of US$150 million to turn around the operations of the company.
Making a case for the amount, Mr Provencal said about US$75 million of the funds would be used to upgrade and rehabilitate the company’s infrastructure and the other half would be deployed as working capital.
According to him, the new funding would make the company economically viable and lead to the payment of dividend to the government within the next two to three years.
Mr Provencal explained that the needed funds could come from an increase in the BOST margin in the petroleum product price build-up, the government’s support or funding from investors.
He noted that should the option of BOST margin be implemented, it would result in the immediate increase in the prices of fuel, but would in the medium-to-long term, be of great benefit to consumers as BOST’s effectiveness would reduce the price at the pumps.
Mr Provencal said the capital injection would enable the company move from its current state of loss-making and low capitalisation to a profit-making and dividend-paying company.
Source:www.energynewsafrica.com
Liberia’s Electricity Corporation (LEC) has announced that it will begin nationwide load shedding exercise from tomorrow, February 12, 2020.
According to the Corporation, it has to resort to load shedding due to poor rainfall pattern which has reduced water inflow into the 64megawatts Mt. Coffee Hydroelectric Dam.
In a press release, LEC said the situation has forced them to use the more costly Heavy Fuel Oil (HFO) to generate at Bushrod Station.
LEC had hoped that this dry season’s demand would be met by excess power purchased from Cote d’Ivoire and delivered over the new CLSG line.
However, connection to the CLSG regional grid has been delayed to April 2020.
To mitigate this delay LEC has announced a number of measures including disconnecting non-paying large customers and thereby reduce load, Gone to International tender for HFO, to ensure the best priced fuel and currently negotiating a Bank Loan to fund a reduced quantity of HFO.
Despite these actions LEC remains unable to fund all necessary HFO. This being the case, LEC cannot avoid Load Shedding.
“To ensure that electricity is as widely available as possible and to minimize the impact on customers, LEC will begin Load Shedding Operations from February 12th 2020; this is likely to continue throughout the dry season.
Since the Mt.Coffee generation situation changes on a daily basis, LEC will adjust the level of load shedding to minimize the impact on customers while conserving fuel.
“LEC apologizes for any inconvenience to its customers and the general public,” the statement said.
Load-Shedding-TimetableSource: www.energynewsafrica.com
Ghana’s power distribution company, Electricity Company of Ghana, will on February 18, 2020 launch a mobile application to enable its customers to buy prepaid credit via mobile phones directly without having to visit any sales points.
Vice President of the West African nation Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, dropped the hint at a Town Hall Meeting in the Ashanti Regional capital Kumasi on Tuesday.
He said the mobile app would help to eliminate the stress ECG customers go through in getting prepaid credit particularly, at night.
“You can buy units for others as well,” he said, adding that “now people will be calling you to buy credit for them.”
Dr Bawumia said the government’s resolve to digitise Ghana’s economy was to do away with all inefficiencies and corruption in the system.
That, he added, would help Ghana to reap the benefits of digitisation, saying “Digitisation is going to reduce a lot of inefficiency and corruption.”
Source: www.energynewsafrica.comSource: www.energynewsafrica.com
Norwegian oil exploration and production firm, Aker Energy has awarded a geotechnical and geophysical survey services contract to oil and gas services provider, Fugro Ghana Ltd, for the Pecan field.
The contract is in preparation for the commencement of first oil production from the Pecan field holds between 450Mmboe and 550Mmboe.
The Pecan field is an oil and gas field located offshore Ghana in the Gulf of Guinea. The field lies in the Deepwater Tano Cape Three Points block (DWT/CT), which is jointly owned by Aker Energy (50%, operator), Lukoil (38%), Fueltrade (2%) and Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (10%).
The Pecan field was earlier owned by Hess and acquired by Aker Energy’s subsidiary Aker Energy Ghana in June 2018. First oil from the field is expected in the fourth quarter of 2021.
In a press statement posted on the company’s website, Aker Energy said the contract involves surveying services from two state-of-the-art vessels for a 10-week period, starting in March, as well as laboratory testing post operations.
The geotechnical vessel, Fugro Scout, is specifically designed for geotechnical operations in water depths up to 3,000 metres for both drilling and seabed sampling and in situ testing.
The aim of the surveys is to obtain critical information about seabed and sub-seabed conditions to facilitate the planning and emplacement of the Pecan subsea field and floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) ship.
Commenting on the award, Senior Vice President for Projects in Aker Energy, Olav Henriksen said: “For Aker Energy, this contract is an important next step as we prepare for the ramp up of the Pecan project.
“We are both eager and excited to get started and Fugro’s services are world class, making them a natural choice to partner with,” he added.
On his part, Jaco Stemmet, Fugro’s Director for Africa, said, “This project will build on the extensive experience that our vessels and staff have gained in Ghana and the wider West Africa region, and we look forward to using this knowledge to execute a safe and successful campaign.”
As part of the contract, an emphasis has been placed on local content and capacity building in Ghana through Fugro’s Ghana office.
The shore base for the two ships will be Takoradi in the Western Region. From Fugro, at least, one surveyor trainee and one experienced surveyor will be Ghanaian and there will be local sourcing of various materials in Ghana.
In addition, a series of educational and capacity building activities will be rolled out through partnerships with Ghanaian educational institutions and the Petroleum Commission of Ghana.
Source: www.energynewsafrica.com
Ghana’s indigenous oil marketing company, GOIL Company Limited, recorded 32 percent year-on-year growth and increased its revenue by 15 percent in 2019.
The Managing Director and Group Chief Executive, Mr Kwame Osei-Prempeh, who revealed this at a send-off party in honour of the former MD and Group CEO, Mr Patrick Akorli, in Accra, said the company prudently managed its financial costs resulting in the growth.
Mr Akorli retired from the company after 25 years of service, seven of which was in the position of Managing Director and Group Chief Executive.
Mr Osei Prempeh paid tribute to his predecessor for laying the foundation for the tremendous growth and transformation of the company, adding that the company would continue the good path chartered by Mr Akorli and ensure the consolidation of the impressive growth.
Mr. Patrick Akorli(2nd right), former Managing Director and Group CEO of GOIL COMPANY LIMITED
He also lauded the contributions of other Managing Directors whose efforts have, over the years, turned around GOIL, adding the sterling leadership qualities of Mr Akorli had shown that Ghanaians can do better and compete favourably with foreign competitors.
The Ashanti Regional Minister, Mr Simon Osei Mensah, who was the Guest of Honour, described Mr Akorli as patriotic, selfless and a team player who always shared the successes of the company with the GOIL team.
The former MD, he noted, must be celebrated for helping to uplift the image of GOIL to the admiration of all.
The send-off ceremony was attended by several industry players including the CEO of NPA, Hassan Tampuli, a former MD of GOIL, Mr Yaw Agyemang-Duah, present and former Board members of GOIL, GO Energy, the Managing Director of Total Ghana, Mr Eric Fanchini, CEO of OMCs, Mr Kwaku Agyemang-Duah, Executive Director of CIMG, Mr Kwabena Agyekum, Executive Director of COPEC, Mr Duncan Amoah, National Chairman of GPRTU, Mr Kwame Kumah and GOIL’s Brand Ambassador, Prof. Azumah Nelson.Others who attended the send- off were the Chief of Defence Staff, Lt. Gen. Obed Akwa, former Chief of Defence Staff, Lt. Gen. Augustine Blay, Chief of Air Staff, Air Vice Marshall F. Hanson, former Chief of Naval Staff, Rear Admiral G.M Biekro (Rtd), Deputy Chief Fire Officer (Director of Safety) Mr Obeng Dankwa Dwamena.
Mr Akorli, who served in various management positions until he assumed the MD position in 2012, thanked President Akufo Addo and his two predecessors, the late President Mills and former President Mahama, for the congenial atmosphere created during his tenure.
He also appreciated the role of past and present Boards, Management, staff and the workers for their assistance and co-operation.
He appealed to the staff to extend the same support to the present Managing Director, Mr Kwame Osei Prempeh to help propel the company to greater heights.
The Board Chairman of GOIL, Kwamena Bartels, on behalf of the Board and Management of the company, presented gifts to Mr Akorli and thanked him for his diligent and selfless leadership that has contributed in making GOIL an enviable OMC in the country.
Source: www.energynewsafrica.com
The Public Utility Regulatory Commission (PURC) in the Republic of Ghana has responded to some social media comments which seem to suggest that the Commission is failing in its mandate to protect consumers’ interests in the West African country.
“Can PURC order ECG to compensate us, even if it means giving us power with an expiry date? I think it is time for PURC to be asked the hard questions. Why do they fine utility companies and keep the money for themselves, but never order the service providers to compensate customers who suffer? Come and see how the electricity is dancing like there is some silent music playing, which only the light sources can hear. And come and see me and my son sweating because we are stuck indoors in the darkness and heat.”
#ECGMustCompensateUs#PURCreplaceFinesWithcompensation,” a customer of ECG and GWCL posted on his Facebook wall.
However, a statement released and signed by Head of Public Relations and External Affairs at the PURC, Bawah Munkaila gave instances where it had instructed either the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) or Ghana Water Company (GWC) to pay compensations to affected consumers to stamp the PURC’s authority.
Notable among such actions, according to the PURC, include “The order for Electricity of Ghana (ECG) to compensate its prepayment customers to Achimota, Korle-bu, Dansoman and Kaneshie, all in the Greater Accra West District, who suffered difficulties in vending power from December 03-12 2017.
“On the basis of the number of consumers affected within the area, a total compensation paid amounted to one million, nine hundred and twenty-seven thousand, six hundred and twenty Ghana Cedis, forty-five pesewas. (GHS 1,927,620,45),” he justified.
He said these customers were credited with some amount of electricity units as their quota for the compensation after an order was made in January 2018 by the PURC.
The PURC’s Public Relations Officer said similarly, an order was issued for the Ghana Water Company Ltd (GWL) to reduce tariffs by 10.08 percent across board for all customer categories as a result of non-compliance with tariff decision and regulatory directives in relation to the Teshie Desalination Plant, which led to a breach in section 11 of the Public Utilities Regulatory Act 1997 (Act 538).
He explained that cost of operating the plant was included in the tariff for GWCL but was not being operated and, therefore, water customers were paying more than they were supposed to pay.
He said that this 10.08 percent reduction in GWCL tariff was to serve as forfeiture, if the component of tariff related to the Operation Desalination plant, refund of over-recovered tariff income and compensation to GWCL customers were not complied with.
Based on this order, he said GWCL refunded a total of fourteen million and ninety-seven thousand, one hundred and forty-six (GHS 14.097, 146.00) to all its customers.
He added that that amount represented five months of tariff income unfairly over-recovered by GWCL between March 15, 2018 and September 15, 2018.
With reference to undue charges, the PURC’s response said the GWCL paid to its customers an amount totaling five hundred and forty-two thousand, thirty-eight cedis, forty-eight Ghana Cedis (542,938.48).
Furthermore, Mr Munkaila stated that the Commission ordered that customers be refunded in a form of adjustments on their bills due to wrongful billing and it amounted to a total of one million, six hundred and sixty-four thousand and thirty-four Ghana cedis, thirty-eight pesewas (1664,034.38) passed, and credited within the year 2019 to affected customers.
“The PURC is, therefore, committed in ensuring customer service satisfaction and also seeing to the economic viability of the utility service providers,” he assured Ghanaians.
Source: www.energynewsafrica.com
Norwegian oil and gas company Aker BP recorded an increase in its quarterly profit as its total income went over $1 billion lifted by record high production.
Aker BP said on Tuesday that, for the first time, the company’s quarterly total income had exceeded one billion dollars, driven by record high production following the successful start-up of the Johan Sverdrup field, combined with continued strong performance from other fields.
Aker BP reported total income of $1.003 billion for the fourth quarter of 2019 compared to $916 million in the same period of 2018.
Overall, the company reported a net profit of $112 million for the quarter compared to a profit of $63 million in 4Q 2018.
The company’s net production in the fourth quarter was 191.1 thousand barrels of oil equivalents per day (mboepd), an increase when compared to 4Q 2018 and production of 155.7 mboepd.
The main contribution to the increase in volumes was the start-up of production from the Johan Sverdrup field in October. Average realized liquids price was $64.2 ($67.8 in 4Q 2018) per barrel oil equivalents (boe), while the realized price for natural gas averaged $0.17 per standard cubic meter (scm) ($0.30 scm in 4Q 2018).
For 2020, the company expects production of 205-220 mboepd and capex of about $1.5 billion.
In related news, Aker BP also on Tuesday said it had strengthened its position in the Skarv offshore areanby swapping its interest in two licenses for an interest and operatorship in license which holds the Shrek discovery, near the Skarv field.
Total is expanding its partnership with Adani Group, India’s largest privately-owned energy and infrastructure conglomerate, in order to contribute to the growth of solar power generation in the country.
The Indian government has a strong policy to support renewable energy growth. The country’s capacity should increase from its 81 gigawatts (GW) in 2019 to 225GW by 2022.
Total and Adani Green Energy Limited (AGEL) will create a 50/50 joint venture into which AGEL will transfer its solar assets in operation.
These projects are spread over 11 Indian states and have a cumulative capacity of over 2GW. All the projects benefit from nearly 25-year power purchase agreements (PPA) with national and regional electricity distributors, with a fixed rate.
“Total is fully engaged in the energy transition and to supporting India, a key country in the fight against climate change, in diversifying its energy mix through partnerships in natural gas and now in solar energy,” Patrick Pouyanné, Chairman & CEO of Total said.
“This interest in over 2GW of solar projects represents another big step of our investment in India’s energy sector. It will support our ambition to contribute to the deployment of 25GW of renewable capacities by 2025. We are thrilled to extend the partnership with the Adani Group to renewable energies, which will allow us to benefit from its in-depth knowledge of the Indian electricity market.”
This transaction has a value of approximately $500 million and is in line with the Group’s objective of double-digit returns on renewable projects. It remains subject to the approval of the relevant authorities.
Total integrates climate change into its strategy and is staying ahead of new energy market trends by building a portfolio of low-carbon businesses that could account for 15 to 20% of its sales by 2040. Total’s gross low-carbon power generation capacity worldwide is currently close to 7 gigawatts, of which over 3 gigawatts from renewable energies.
Source:www.energynewsafrica.com/esi-africa.com
The President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, is calling on the Nigerian government to review the privatisation of the country’s power sector.
According to local media Vanguard, Senator Lawan said: “I think the privatisation has not worked. It has failed because the essence of privatisation is to create efficiency.”
It is reported that the Senate was addressing the Executive Committee of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria ((MAN) in Abuja.
“It appears most of the companies, the DISCOs (Distribution Companies), have no sufficient capital and probably the same thing with the GENCOs (Generation Companies),” he noted.
Lawan acknowledged that the efforts of the government were out of desperation to create a better situation for the privatised sector. However, as a result, the government “gave out a lot of money to the companies”.
He said: “I think the time has come for the government to take a very drastic but necessary decision. If we have privatised the DISCOs and the GENCOs, I think, the private sector, those who have taken them [the companies] over, should be able to make them work better than they were before.
“If they cannot, I think we need to revisit this privatisation because we cannot go on like that. We should look at the larger interest of Nigerians, not of those companies that have taken over the power sector – the DISCOs and the GENCOs.
“We are going to support the executive arm of government… We will suggest that going forward we have to revisit the privatisation because apparently the companies are not able to provide the power that we thought they could by now.”
Source:www.energynewsafrica.com
The government of Ghana has settled in full the US$1bn legacy debts the West African nation owed members of the Chamber of Bulk Oil Distributors (CBOD).
The final payment of the legacy debt was made on 13th January, 2020.
In all, a total of US$1.003 billion including interest has been paid by the government.
The amount covered legacy debts covering the period 2012 to 2020.
This was contained in a press statement issued by the Chamber of Bulk Oil Distributors (CBOD) and copied to energynewsafrica.com.
The statement noted that the payments were executed in the form of ESLA Bonds to Legacy Bonds Limited, an SPV jointly owned by the Ghana Association of bankers and the CBOD for redistribution to beneficiary banks and petroleum service providers.
CBOD mentioned a cash payment of US$444.72 million, Bank of Ghana Bonds of US$219.08 million and ESLA Bonds valued at US$339.28 all totalling US$1.003bn.
The statement said CBOD waived an amount of US$ 432m following government negotiations with them.
It would be recalled that confusion erupted between the government and CBOD over what is the actual amount of legacy debts the government owed members of CBOD.
However, Ernst &Young was appointed to validate all the claims by CBOD.
CBOD commended both the current and the former administrations for the steps they took to ensure a peaceful settlement of the debts.
Click the link below for the full statement:Press Statement
Ghana’s petroleum upstream regulator, Petroleum Commission, is set to meet with the management of Tullow Oil Ghana Ltd next week to discuss issues regarding the latter’s decision to lay off some of its workforce, energynewsafrica.com can report.
“We have scheduled a meeting with management of Tullow next week, and after the meeting, I will be able to let you know the way forward,” a source within the Commission told energynewsafrica.com.Energynewsafrica.com, last week, reported that the Africa focused oil and gas giant, Tullow Oil Plc has planned to cut back its employees in the West African nation, Ghana, by 25 percent.
A source in the company told this portal that top management level is expected to see a 35 percent reduction.
The UK firm has interests in 80 exploration and production licences across 15 countries, which are managed as three Business Teams: West Africa, East Africa and New Ventures.
In Ghana, Tullow Oil operates the country’s Jubilee and TEN fields.
The insider who spoke to energynewsafrica.com said the company’s decision to cut back its workforce is part of an ongoing restructuring of its business due to some challenges in 2019, which impacted negatively on the company’s revenue portfolios.
Source:www.energynewsafrica.com
GE has been a committed partner in diversity, inclusion and skills development in Ivory Coast.
In 2018, GE Power partnered with INPHB in Yamoussoukro to train engineering students.
During a six-month period, selected Ivorian students participated in technical and English Language proficiency internships at the GE Ghana office giving them exposure and training to ensure they can compete in the rapidly evolving global market.
Most recently, GE commissioned an English Language technology laboratory for the institution.
Speaking at the roundtable, Bethel Nwaneri, Chief People Officer for GE Gas Power Sub Saharan Africa, said that the initiative was a continuation of the ongoing partnership between GE and Ivory Coast aimed at investing in technical skills and talent particularly for women.
“Companies that seek to change the world should reflect the world. Beyond skills and talent development, mentorship is also important in increasing the representation of women in engineering, manufacturing, IT and product management roles. This is not just the right thing to do; it’s a necessary strategy to inject urgency into recruiting more women for technical roles.
“Our goal is to inspire the next generation of leaders and cultivate lasting interest in STEM careers,” she added.
GE is a historical player and a pioneer in the power sector in Ivory Coast.
The roundtable reflects GE’s commitment to building on the company’s strong presence in the region and continue to provide value for its customers.
Source: www.energynewsafrica.com
Others who attended the send- off were the Chief of Defence Staff, Lt. Gen. Obed Akwa, former Chief of Defence Staff, Lt. Gen. Augustine Blay, Chief of Air Staff, Air Vice Marshall F. Hanson, former Chief of Naval Staff, Rear Admiral G.M Biekro (Rtd), Deputy Chief Fire Officer (Director of Safety) Mr Obeng Dankwa Dwamena.
Mr Akorli, who served in various management positions until he assumed the MD position in 2012, thanked President Akufo Addo and his two predecessors, the late President Mills and former President Mahama, for the congenial atmosphere created during his tenure.
He also appreciated the role of past and present Boards, Management, staff and the workers for their assistance and co-operation.
He appealed to the staff to extend the same support to the present Managing Director, Mr Kwame Osei Prempeh to help propel the company to greater heights.
The Board Chairman of GOIL, Kwamena Bartels, on behalf of the Board and Management of the company, presented gifts to Mr Akorli and thanked him for his diligent and selfless leadership that has contributed in making GOIL an enviable OMC in the country.
Source: www.energynewsafrica.com
