THE SCHLUMBERGER FRANCE 29: TIME TO BREAK THE ICE

Before we begin, let us cogitate on these great words of one of the greatest Nigerian that ever lived,

‘...at every stage of human development or advancement, the moving spirits are invariably the men of education, science and technology. The more of them a country has, the brighter are its prospects for rapid economic progress, for social justice and for political stability.’ (Chief Ọbafẹmi Awolọwọ, 16th January 1980)


The Niger-Delta region have been neglected over the years in terms of employment opportunities in the Oil and Gas sector, the extenuation always given by these operators and service companies, which they used to exculpate their actions was ‘’You do not possess the manpower or skills to carry out these jobs,’’ fast track to March 2014 at the conference hall of the European Learning Centre in France an Oil & Gas Training / Learning facility run by NExT Schlumberger, a graduation ceremony was being held for 29 Niger-Delta Graduates who have been found worthy in character and learning after a yearlong Drilling Engineering training program organised by The office of The Special Adviser to the President on Niger-Delta Affairs, Hon. Kingsley Kuku in partnership with Schlumberger, The Business Manager for Europe and Africa of Schlumberger/NEXT Mr. Pier Bihan had this to opine,


“It is true that we have been training students from several countries of the world but I must confess that these Nigerian students are exceptional. Their level of discipline is very high. Their ability to cope under immense pressure is second to none and more importantly, their good showing in both theory and practice is commendable. Schlumberger has decided to employ most of them for their facilities in Nigeria.’’

It is almost a year now of anticipating and praying for this promise of employment to come to verisimilitude.
Coming back to Nigeria, still basking in the euphoria of an excellent performance that attracted positive accolades from their facilitators and instructors, after they rounded up the training, they had no choice but to put in all their energy, time and resources into securing Job placements in the Oil & Gas industry in Nigeria, the bureaucracy that appertain in majority of these companies went a long way to constrain them, and this has become exasperating because their professional profiles, exposure, experience and certifications which they have attained from their sojourn with NExT Schlumberger in France should make them stand out, so career wise they are meant to have an edge.

So why has their individual endeavours to secure a Job not yielded any result so far? This is where Bureaucracy comes into play and limits them. It is at this point we needed they support of the Government. They have the qualifications for the Job, these companies operate in their communities and yet offer employment to outsiders and expatriates who do not even possess half of the same qualifications they possess.

One begin to wonder if The Minister of Petroleum resources, Mrs Denziani Allison Maduake who is from the Ijaw extraction is actually aware of their plight. One begin to wonder if our great leader, President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, GCFR is actually aware that these seasoned graduates whom the Federal Government invested so much money on and empowered with the same knowledge these Oil & Gas companies always rejected them for, who have made the country proud, have been left to their own fates and abandoned?

All their efforts to convey this demur to the esteemed office of the SA to The President on Niger-Delta Affairs, Hon. Kingsley Kuku and other relevant Government employment agencies has fallen on deaf ears, there has been no elucidation from The Office of the SA or from NExT Schlumberger its technical partner and i begin to wonder, how a country can invest heavily on man-power development in the best Oil & Gas Training institute in the world, NExT Schlumberger, and not care about its return on investment? Hear the words of the SA to The President on Niger-Delta Affairs during our pre-deployment ceremony in Lagos,


“Always remember where you are coming from. The Nigerian government has invested so much in you by sponsoring your training. There is always a great reward for hard work. So you must be good ambassadors of your country,”

With all due respect Sir, we humbly ask when you made this statement what did you mean by ‘’reward for hard work’’ they followed your fatherly advice and indeed it benefitted them greatly, they worked hard, they gave their best, they made sure they did what was necessary even in challenging times to avoid any negative report that will paint the country in bad light. They gave their all! They strived for excellence and achieved it, WITH PAIN IN OUR HEARTS SIR, WE ASK SIR IS THIS WHAT WE GET AS OUR GREAT REWARD?

The Psychological traumas, the failed promises, the frustrating news and press releases about how Schlumberger gave them automatic employment when we all know those stories are not true, adds more salt to injury, these were the words of Kingsley Kuku during their graduation ceremony in Melun, France


“This is what we call practical support. Schlumberger has shown today that it is a true friend of Nigeria. Schlumberger has also shown that reward abound at all times for excellence. Our delegates came here and excelled and you have not shied away from saying that they are the best you have trained. You went further to offer to employ most of them. Nigeria is grateful to you. We shall continue to collaborate with Schlumberger and NEXT,”

He also went further to make this promise,

“With the first class training you have received, you have become hot cakes in the industry. But we are not going to sit back and wait. We have decided to bring potential employers to meet all of you in Lagos this month,”

The Job fair was organised in Lagos as he promised but , what happened that day did not turn out to be a Job fair as he may be aware, it was more like a seminar where the few company representatives who made it to the venue that day were made to sit and listen to his aides including Dr. Larry Pepple’s presentations. The whole day was spent on presentations upon presentations and everyone could visibly see the frustration written on the faces of the HR representatives from these companies that some of them had to walk out from the venue.

When they were finally allowed to speak, it was about one hour to the close of activities for that day and during his speech one of the HR personnel from Sterling Global Energy wondered why the Government of Nigeria will be ‘’begging’’ Oil & Gas companies to employ highly qualified graduates from the same region where these companies operate? He was amazed, he was shocked and we were happy he made that statement because they believed it will help fire up the zeal of the Government to enforce what was right.

At the end of the day they ended up achieving nothing from that Job fair as nobody was interviewed because the whole time was used for presentations and no single soul has been contacted by any of those companies that were present that day.
These were the words of Dan Alabra in his published article on Sahara Reporters on the 17th day of November titled Presidential Amnesty Fraud Allegations: A Rejoinder

‘’….another 30 are undergoing training in France under a partnership with Schlumberger, which will employ them on completion of their training.’’

The whole word has seen all these press releases about an employment that was non-existent, the trauma, the pain and the anguish these reports make them feel can move a man to take certain actions against his will, but they have kept calm, struggling and trying to take on this neglect being slammed at them in terms of Job opportunities by these Oil & Gas companies operating in our region.

Worse still they possess the professional skill and technical know-how coupled with the global exposure in the field of Drilling Engineering YET the door of employment opportunities is slammed on them on their own soil.

Congratulations to the President-Elect, General Buhari and Congratulations to our great leader and President, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan for his statesmanship and peaceful nature, whereby he has put Nigeria first before any other. Indeed, Nigeria is heading for greatness. We want to use this opportunity to call on the relevant agencies of Government and Schlumberger to look into this issue and save our souls.

Long Live the Federal Republic of Nigeria.


cc: Seun
lalasticlala
ishilove

FP Things.

mtchew

Man's wickedness to Man.

Oga FowlYansh, please accept my heartfelt sympathy. I perfectly understand your feelings, I've been in this state before and have experienced first-hand the pains it brings.

My candid advice is for you to hit the streets and start hustling like never before. DO NOT EXPECT ANYTHING from The Office of the Special Adviser on Niger Delta/Amnesty Office. They never had any plan to engage any of you from the beginning. You have to individually sort yourselves out.

I have a couple of friends who were also trained for a year at the Institut Français du Pétrole (IFP). At the end of the training they were told that Total and Halliburton had agreed to employ 13 of them, but till date (Nov 2014 till now) nothing has been done. In fact the Consultant Raph Dickson of Defar Int'l told some if them that the promise made was merely a Political Statement.

The situation is so bad that some of them have returned to teaching in Secondary Schools while one of them is working as an Ad hoc staff with INEC currently.

Your brother was there and did nothing for you guys so expect nothing from the incoming Govt.

May Heaven help you as you help yourselves..

Peace !!

OP

I just went through your post and discovered something about you.

FowlYansh:

Ride on my Mentor High Chief Ateke Tom!

https://www.nairaland.com/2189609/amaechi-out-kill-me-says#32446291


You seem to have a soft spot for Ateke the terrorist.

garrix8:
Oga FowlYansh, please accept my heartfelt sympathy. I perfectly understand your feelings, I've been in this state before and have experienced first-hand the pains it brings.

My candid advice is for you to hit the streets and start hustling like never before. DO NOT EXPECT ANYTHING from The Office of the Special Adviser on Niger Delta/Amnesty Office. They never had any plan to engage any of you from the beginning. You have to individually sort yourselves out.

I have a couple of friends who were also trained for a year at the Institut Français du Pétrole (IFP). At the end of the training they were told that Total and Halliburton had agreed to employ 13 of them, but till date (Nov 2014 till now) nothing has been done. In fact the Consultant Raph Dickson of Defar Int'l told some if them that the promise made was merely a Political Statement.

The situation is so bad that some of them have returned to teaching in Secondary Schools while one of them is working as an Ad hoc staff with INEC currently.

Your brother was there and did nothing for you guys so expect nothing from the incoming Govt.

May Heaven help you as you help yourselves..

Peace !!

Lol.

I'm a lady ooh! I was not part of the program but I know some people who were. My husband was a facilitator. I actually copied this post and decided to share on Nairaland.

Just trying to contribute my 2cent.

If the President or the Minister of Petroleum was actually aware of this training and kept numb then I can say "Man is really, Wicked to Man"

And Yes High Chief Tom Ateke is my cousin and not a Terrorist.