ExxonMobil builds, equips geosciences workroom in 24 varsities 

As part of efforts to burnish geosciences students with latest skills in their field, with a view to boosting their practical understanding of their course of study, oil giant, ExxonMobil Nigeria, has built and equipped geosciences workroom in 24 universities across the country.
 
This came to light at the commissioning of a mini geosciences workroom, built and donated to the Akwa Ibom State University (AKSU), Mkpat Enin local council of the state. 
 
Speaking at the commissioning of the facility sponsored by Esso Exploration and Production Nigeria Limited, a subsidiary of ExxonMobil, the General Manger, Operations Technical Geosciences, Mr. Michael Udoh, said that on completion of the project, three members of staff were trained on the use of the machines in carrying out geosciences evaluations. 
 
He informed that the overall objective of the project was “to enhance and complement the skill sets of these select lecturers who in turn are expected to train students and other lecturers on the use of these equipment thereby positively impacting the quality of geosciences graduates coming out of our tertiary institutions. This is in furtherance to ExxonMobil’s commitment in supporting youth development and capacity building in Nigeria.
 
Maintaining that the commissioned equipment were similar to what is being used in the industry today in the exploration and exploitation of oil and gas in the petroleum industry, he advised that they should be fully utilised for learning and research as intended to the benefit of students, lecturers and the country.

“The expectation is that there will be a marked improvement in the quality of geosciences graduates from this university. The quality of technical papers emanating from this department at professional conferences like the Nigerian Associations of Petroleum Explorationists (NAPE), Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) and Society of Exploration Geophysicists (SEG) amongst others, should reflect the tools and equipment being made available to you today.
“The Imperial Barrel Award (IBA) and Basin Evaluation Competition (BEC), annual competitions organised by the American Association of Petroleum Geologist and NAPE are good avenues to demonstrate your capabilities. I look forward to seeing Akwa Ibom State University students participate and win these competitions in the nearest future. 
    
Udoh, who put the total cost of the project at approximately N300m, which he said includes the cost of construction, furnishing, hardware, software, training, transportation and other associated personnel cost, advised the benefitting school that in order to ensure optimal performance of the machines, we recommend the following: “Adequate funds should be made available by the university authorities to the department for the upkeep of this workroom; students must be allowed access after being trained to use the equipment; the manual that came with the Petrel software should remain in the workroom at all times for ease of accessibility among others.

Vice Chancellor of the university, Prof. Eno Ibanga remarked that the gesture by the oil giant was an eye opener and in line with the vision of the institution, stressing that the provision of those equipment has brought practicality into the theory that the students have been hearing from their lecturers.

“We are in a hurry to develop, we are going to update and integrate appropriately in the curriculum, the use of the equipment in the workroom so as to have marketable graduates; this will make Akwa Ibom people to be proud of coming from oil producing state…”

Prof. Ibanga commended the people of Mkpat Enin and the host communities for their peaceful and cordial relationship with the university authorities, noting that, that has brought about the conducive learning environment for the students.

Items provided by the donor include, four high-end precision dual core Dell workstations, eight flat screen 24” monitors, one external hard drive, 1 3 com 16 ports switch, one HP designing jet plotter, one desktop office computer with 19” flat screen, one desktop printer among others.