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The Honourable Minister of State, Power, Goddy Jedy-Agba, OFR, has assured the National Power Training Institute (NAPTIN) of his commitment towards ensuring improved funding of the institute.
Jedy-Agba who stated this on Friday during a working visit to the Institute Corporate Headquarters located along Idu Industrial area, Mbora District, Abuja also assured the institute of his support towards the speedy commencement and completion of the proposed 105-bed hostel project to be embarked upon by the institute.
According to him, “this place is adding to the overall value of the power sector in Nigeria. One of the key challenges affecting the power sector in Nigeria is poor infrastructure and to ensure we address that, we need to develop the man power to build and maintain our power infrastructures. This is why the institute is very strategic.
I’m happy with what I’ve seen here. I commend the efforts of the DG and all the management staff. I want to assure you that in anyway I can, I’ll work to ensure the issue of funding which the DG has discussed with me is addressed”.
While charging the staff to corporate with management and be committed to duty, he said that “I encourage you all to corporate with the DG so that by the time I return here, the transformation I’ve seen here today will be better”.
Earlier, in his remarks, the Director General of the institute, Ahmed Bello Nagode lauded the Minister for his support and guidance in ensuring that NAPTIN becomes a global force in power training.
Nagode said that “The Minister has been very supportive to the course of NAPTIN. I have two Directors who he graciously approved their promotion recently. It’s a huge achievement.
Also, when we had issues with our internal road network, we ran to the Minister and he responded swiftly and today, we’ve a smooth access road to the corporate headquarters. Funding too has been a major issue but through the Minister’s intervention, there’s improvement in the 2022 budget.
The DG however appealed to the Minister to also intervene in the institute’s effort to fence the headquarters to not only protect the staff but to preserve the land which he said was suffering encroachment already.
He added that, “We’re set to embark on a 105-bed hostel and workshop/training Centre projects which is an outcome of the France/Nigeria agreement signed by President Muhammadu Buhari with the France government recently. We’ve all the designs ready and will invite you for the groundbreaking ceremony in the coming days. We’re targeting two years to complete this project but we want it to be on record that you started it”.
