NIGERIA’S
President Dr Goodluck Ebele Jonathan took time out from his three-day state
visit yesterday to meet with 70 students from his country who are currently
studying at the National Energy Skills Centre (NESC), Point Lisas in
Couva.
Nigerian
nationals Danson Ikngosa and Sandra Orye were among the batch of students on
hand to welcome their President.
The men and
women from the Niger Delta are undergoing training in oil and gas operations.
It was
Jonathan’s first visit to the centre since the signing of a training agreement
between QESS Services Limited of Nigeria and NESC in December, 2011 for training
of Nigerian nationals in areas such as heavy equipment operations, crane
operations, metal arc welding and industrial mechanical maintenance.
Orye who has
completed only one week of training told Newsday, “Our president is such a nice
man, we wish he could have stayed longer with us here.” Her colleague, Ikngosa
said he too was happy “to get the opportunity and the privilege to be seeing our
President (Jonathan) in Trinidad and Tobago.”
He said, “I want
to assure you that whoever gets the oil and gas training in Trinidad and Tobago,
we will do our best to get our experience and get our certificate and go back to
our country and do something better for ourselves.”
But the trainees
who were dressed in their orange coveralls with the flags of Trinidad and Tobago
and Nigeria stuck in their left sleeve pockets had been seated in the auditorium
in time for the 8.30 am arrival of President Jonathan.
He did not
arrive until 10.35 am. He was attending Emancipation Day celebrations in
Port-of-Spain. Jonathan and his wife Dame Patience Faka Jonathan were in
Trinidad as guests of the Trinidad and Tobago government for yesterday’s
Emancipation day celebrations in Port-of-Spain.
Accompanied by a
large delegation including past and present Nigerian parliamentarians, Jonathan
was greeted in his native language by the Nigerian students.
The Nigerian,
students lustily sang their national anthem to the accompaniment of Kareem Brown
on the steelpan forcing the locals into embarrassment and as hardly ever happens
at functions, also sang the T&T anthem which was also played on the pan by
Brown.
In his greeting,
Jonathan said, “It is a great moment, a moment of joy when I came in and saw
young Nigerians, men and women here, greeting me in my local language, the
language we speak in Niger Delta.”
Jonathan is
confident that upon their graduation, the trained Nigerians, will contribute “to
the development of the sector in oil and gas for which Nigeria is known for.”
Jonathan said he was happy to be part of the emancipation celebrations.
“We are here to
celebrate success certainly at a time and a day when this great country is
remembering the circumstances that brought some of the blacks to this country.
Today we marking that emancipation and also celebrate the training of Nigerians.
So it is a good occasion for us to begin to see where we are coming from and
where we want to go.
“The issue of
movement whether we are colonised by colonial masters or whether we are under
apartheid regime or whether we are brought to some part of the country as
slaves, is written in history,” Jonathan said.
Also speaking
yesterday was Minister of Tertiary Education and Skills Training Fazal Karim who
told guests, “About a week ago I was privileged to present certificates to 57
Nigerian trainees who graduated from NESC in automotive maintenance.
“I am determined to
expand our relationship in technical and vocational educational training and I
will therefore like to propose what I believe is the next logical step in this
regard, the creation of “Trinigeria” — the bond of Trinidad and Tobago and
Nigeria — where the NESC can now export the talent and skills of the energy
sector to help your country to help our brothers and sisters in
Nigeria.”
By Cecily Asson Thursday, August 2 2012
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