Aker Energy, partners give scholarship to 200 SHS students

200 Senior High School students from the Western Region have received scholarship packages for the duration of their programme from Aker Energy and partners.

The Country Manager of Aker Energy Ghana, Jan Helge Skogen, speaking at an inauguration ceremony in Takoradi said the 200 beneficiaries brings the Aker Energy and partners’ scholarship beneficiaries from the seven coastal districts of the Western Region to a total of 994.

Aker Energy is the operator of Deepwater Tano Cape-Three-Points offshore oil block with partners including the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation, GNPC, Luke Oil Overseas and Fueltrade Limited.

With its Pecan oil field already appraised, the Country Manager of Aker Energy Ghana, Jan Helge Skogen, said it has already filed its field plan of development and waiting for approval to pave way for more investment that will benefit people of the Western Region.

“Aker Energy’s mission is to build the oil and gas operator of choice offshore Ghana by maturing resources in a safe, efficient and reliable manner to the mutual benefit of company partners and the people of Ghana. This Scholars Programme is presently the flagship social investment project of Aker Energy in partnership with GNPC. The programme started in 2012 and have to date benefitted almost 800 students. To the students, each of you has worked hard to pass the Basic Education Certificate Examination, but that is only the first step of your academic journey.”

“Think beyond secondary school, by setting your goals on graduate and post-graduate education. Last month, about 40 of the 120 beneficiaries who graduated from secondary school had 5As in 8 subjects. Indeed, it is because of such high academic performance that Aker Energy and our partners are encouraged to continue to support the scholars programme. I know that secondary education in Ghana is free, therefore this scholarship package is made up of materials that students in boarding schools are required to provide on their own. Aker Energy has plans to develop a tertiary level scholarship so that students we are supporting now can look forward to continuing their education to the tertiary level,” he said.

The Country Manager also told Citi News Aker Energy plans to become Ghana’s Petroleum industry incubator of professionals.

“While in Ghana, Aker Energy intends to build the technical human resource required for the oil and gas sector. We have demonstrated this with our financial support to the Accelerated Oil and Gas Capacity Building Programme (AOGC) that builds capacity of Ghanaians in technical areas (like welding, pipe-fitting, electricals, roustabouts and crane operators), support officials from government for higher education, and support start-up companies. In addition, our local content plan revolves around a capacity-building model that ultimately will lead to an improved human resource base from which the oil and gas industry can draw from,” he said.

40 nursing trainees from the Western Region have so far also benefitted from Aker Energy and partners also scholarships.

The Secondary Education Director of Monitoring and Evaluation, Angela Tena Mensah told Citi News the scholarship support is critical despite the Free SHS policy and encouraged Aker Energy and partners to do more.

Source: Citi News