VEEP URGES T-POLY TO INTRODUCE OIL, GAS COURSES (SPREAD, DEC 20, 2010)

THE Vice-President, Mr John Dramani Mahama, has called on the Takoradi Polytechnic to re-strategise and produce expertise that will be at the forefront of the oil and gas production to make the application of the local content factor more meaningful.
He said many opportunities existed in oil production such as the installation of gas processing and thermal plants, electricity transmission engineering, catering services and aviation services and that it behoved the polytechnic to train students in those areas.
Mr Mahama was addressing the 10th Congregation of the Takoradi Polytechnic in Takoradi at the weekend.
The polytechnic successfully turned out 2,318 graduates, who were awarded Higher National Diplomas (HND) and 71 civil engineering graduates, who received competency-based training (CBT) certificates.
He noted that the polytechnic, as an agent of development, should focus on its mission to produce more graduates to contribute towards the rapid socio-economic development of the country.
He advised the students to be innovative thinkers and think outside the box rather than accepting the status quo.
He announced that the government was coming out with a programme which would make financing the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund) smoother than it was now.
The Chairman of the Takoradi Polytechnic Council, Dr George K.T. Oduro, said the recent inauguration of commercial oil operations in the country posed a great challenge to the Takoradi Polytechnic in terms of running programmes that were relevant to the oil and gas industry.
Aware of this challenge, he said the polytechnic had initiated a process of introducing an oil and gas HND and a certificate programme in conjunction with Tullow Oil Company.
Dr Oduro expressed regret that out of a student population of 8,500, less than 5,000 were residential students as a result of inadequate hostel facilities.
He was of the view that the GETFund was inadequate in meeting the needs of all public tertiary institutions and that it was worrying that some public-spirited individuals and institutions continued to call on government to review the GETFund Law to extend the facilities to private universities.
“Indeed, l acknowledge the contribution of private universities in the provision of education in Ghana but considering the current resource challenges facing polytechnic education in the country, l appeal to the government to hasten slowly in heeding these calls,” he appealed.