The Nigerian Institution of Mechanical Engineers, NIMechE has lauded the federal government and the Warri Refining and Petrochemical Company Limited (WRPC), for the development of local content in the oil and gas sector.
The NIMechE national chairman, Engr Robinson Ejilah, who led a delegation of the body to pay a courtesy call on the Managing Director of WRPC, Engr. Muhammadu Abali, at their refining facility in Ekpan-Warri expressed his profound delight for the opportunity to identify with recorded successes of WRPC, and the commitment of Nigerian mechanical engineers in the oil and gas industry.
He also appraised the performance of the refining company and likened it to the Nigeria tertiary education sector, which in spite of challenging economic climate bedeviling the sector, is unabatedly churning out products and the needed human resources to serve other sectors of the national economy.
He said that part of the reasons of his visit was to mobilize mechanical engineers in the facility for inclusive participation in the professional activities of the Institution and to facilitate their continuous professional development (CPD).
The national chairman extolled the virtues of WRPC management for their recorded success on the good work being done in the refinery and for keeping it running as the only functional facility out of the three in the country.
He informed the WRPC Managing director and his team of NIMechE’s desire to partner with the organization in relevant areas of professional activities, and called on its full participation in the forthcoming NIMechE International conference /annual general meeting scheduled to hold in Yenagoa Bayelsa from 9th – 11th October 2019.
Responding to the NIMechE’s delegation, the WRPC boss, Engr. Abali thanked the delegation for its well thought-out visit to the facility and said their vision is very clear, as it would grow WRPC to be a leader in the petroleum processing business in Africa.
He also noted that in spite daunting challenges of unsecured pipelines and illegal bunkering that WRPC is working out ambitious strategies to achieve; maximum capacity utilization, higher energy efficiency, enhance products slate by installing isomerization and hydro cracker units, production of ATK, restoration of polypropylene, which he believed could be realised through the participation of Nigerian Engineers.