NNPC Ltd, Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company and the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board have opened a Geosciences Centre of Excellence at the University of Lagos, aiming to boost local training and research for Nigeria’s oil and gas industry.
The five-level facility, commissioned on April 17 in collaboration with ExxonMobil and Nigerian Agip Exploration Limited, includes laboratories for hydrogeology, mineralogy and environmental geology, a seismic laboratory, a seismic interpretation room, a library and a digital museum.The partners said the centre would support undergraduate and postgraduate studies and help reduce the industry’s reliance on foreign facilities for testing, training and research.
“This Centre represents a long-term investment in Nigeria’s greatest asset — its people,” SNEPCo Managing Director Ronald Adams said at the ceremony.Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, represented by Commissioner for Tertiary Education Tolani Sule, said the facility would give students more practical learning opportunities.
NNPC Upstream Investment Management Services Chief Upstream Investment Officer Olanrewaju Igandan said the project showed what could be achieved when industry, regulators and academia worked together.NCDMB Executive Secretary Felix Ogbe, represented by Director of Capacity Building Abayomi Bamidele, said the centre’s success would be measured by the quality of graduates, research output and industry solutions it produces.
University of Lagos Vice Chancellor Folasade Ogunsola said the facility would provide research and analytical services that meet international standards and support degree programmes, short courses, professional certifications and executive training.The project was conceived in 2010 and built by indigenous firm 225MM Construct Limited. Students from the University of Lagos, Obafemi Awolowo University, University of Ilorin and Yaba College of Technology took part as interns during construction.
The centre is the latest education-focused intervention by SNEPCo and its partners, which also includes scholarships, science laboratory donations to secondary schools and e-learning centres at universities in Delta, Enugu, Edo and Bayelsa states.
