Original Equipment Manufacturers, Siemens Nigeria has commenced the pilot phase of its Graduate Trainee Engineers and Management program for fresh engineering and sciences graduates from Nigeria universities. Aimed at tackling the depletion of professionals and skilled field service engineers in Nigeria, the program will focus on hiring, training and grooming local talents to meet the company’s business needs and its sustainability.
Following a series of screening, shortlisting and interviewing of candidates from top Universities in Nigeria by an independent and reputable recruiter, five graduates where chosen and offered employment at Siemens. The program which kicked off on March 2nd, 2020, will offer these graduate trainees 2-years of world class training from Siemens in-country/on-site facility in Nigeria and Siemens’ Technical Competency Institute (TCI) at product lead centres in Europe and North America.
Commenting on the onboarding of the graduate trainees, Vice President, Services and Digital, Siemens Nigeria, Seun Suleiman, “We are excited to onboard these graduates to our field service department where they will be cross-trained across our product lines over the next 2 years. Siemens is known as an employer of choice in the power and gas sector in Nigeria and this graduate trainee programme by our services distributed generation oil & gas business unit was driven by our commitment to provide a pool of young, talented and well trained service engineers in compliance with local content act of the Nigerian Government for human capital development.”
“It is our goal that by the end of this programme we will graduate multiskilled engineers who, in the future, will be able to take over from our experienced pool of senior engineers who currently demonstrate the capacity to support our fleet of over 360 gas turbines and compressors across our country. This new breed of engineers will be globally certified across TCP, AGT, SGT & MGT product lines, making them experts in controls & mechanical discipline, which will be of great value to our customers and the industry in general. We are confident that in the nearest future this program will contribute to reducing the delay in sourcing engineers locally at short notice and ensuring affordable cost in an oil & gas market that is now ever highly competitive in pricing and retaining talents.”, Suleiman added.
Speaking on the company’s commitment to supporting local capacity development, Head, Field Service Operations, Siemens Nigeria, Pelumi Olaolu noted that Siemens Nigeria will be joining other regions like Germany, where the programs is already being implemented to ensure the success of the training in Nigeria.
Olaolu said, “We believe that the derivatives of this program are beyond our business values and that it will also enhance employment opportunity, human capital development (professional), future managers and leaders in the industry. The technical aspect of the program will train the graduates on the fundamental principles and application of rotating equipment and other dimensions of energy application in gas turbines, alternators, compression etc. The program will also ensure that the trainees are mentored to become future professional leaders and business managers.”
The Head, Human Resources Siemens Nigeria, Ayobami Abunsango added that the company is dedicated to supporting human capital development in Nigeria, saying, “We have recruited young graduates from diverse backgrounds and the best engineering citadels of learning in Nigeria to fill our talent pipeline. Nothing we do is more important than hiring the right people to achieve business objectives. We are confident that they will take the opportunities afforded them over the next 24months to acquire skills that will benefit themselves and the company in the years to come.”
Siemens remains committed to promoting localisation and local content in the Nigeria Oil & Gas industry, by grooming local human capital with world class professional and technical standards.