The Omanhene of Essikado Traditional Area, Nana Kobina Nketia V says the Chief Executive Officer of Rigworld Group of Companies, Nana Kofi Abban has given him reason to believe in Ghana again.
He was referring to the 8.5 million dollar investment in the construction of an ultramodern Rigworld Training Centre at Kejabil in the Western regional capital, Takoradi; the first of its kind in West Africa.
“I was really overwhelmed by what I saw today at Kejabil…what Kofi Abban has done makes me confident that there is hope for Ghana and I believe change is gonna come,” he said.
The Rigworld Training Centre was officially opened this week by former president Jerry John Rawlings and it now set to equip Ghanaians with a wide range of specialized skills for the offshore oil industry.
The centre is fully equipped with advanced simulators, helipad, water survival training pool, medical centre, prime on-site accommodation, restaurant and fitness centre, and is billed to make Ghana a catalyst to enable better safety in the mining industry across West Africa.
It will provide world class accredited training facilities without the need to send staff abroad, largely to training centers in Scotland or Dubai as was the case previously.
Top international training experts with operational excellence have been selected by Rigworld Training Centre to lead the training programmes, which include skills training in Survival, Rope access, Well control/intervention, Drilling well control, Lifting competence, Banksman and slinging, Rigging and lifting and Crane operator training.
Other programmes include NDT training, HSE training, IOSH managing safely, IOSH working safely, NEBOSH IGC, NEBOSH oil and gas technical certificate, Manual handling, Work at height, Rescue at height, Confined space entry and rescue, Safety consultancy and BFPA hose assembly training.
Nana Kobina Nketia said he is particularly proud of Kofi Abban because they are both old boys of Mfantsipim school, where the motto is “Dwen Hwe Kan”, loosely translated as live for the future.
He believes that motto, originated by John Mensah Sarbah, should guide the youth of today to be just like Ghana’s first President Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, who returned to Ghana inspired to come and serve his motherland and not to make money off it.
The chief called on government to complete the effort of Kofi Abban in setting up the centre in Takoradi, by relocating the headquarters of Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) to the Western Region as it promised during the 2016 election campaign.
He believes the relocation of GNPC headquarters to Takoradi will have a multiplier effect of reviving the dying live band music that the region is known for.
Nana Nketiah decried how the Ghanaian elite see everything western as good and mimic them hook line and sinker, and wondered why at public functions most speakers always quote Europeans but not African scholars.
“Why do we, for instance, use red carpets – it is stupid because whenever I wear red, what does it symbolize – if I do, you will ask me if I am mourning?” he retorted angrily.
Nana Kobina Nketia is therefore advocating for indigenous solutions just like Kofi Abban has put up a training centre in Ghana to stop the situation where Ghanaians had to travel abroad for such skills.
He lamented how Ghana’s education system and content has been westernized to the extent that educated Ghanaians tend to frown upon the country’s chieftaincy system, saying there is not value in Ghana pursuing democracy just because the white man is doing same.
The chief noted that plans to set up a university in the Western Region has been stalled since 1951, but now steps are underway to get a university in the region by 2021.
