The Minister of Power, Professor Chinedu Nebo, has assured of the availability of sufficient indigenous manpower for the 10 new NIPPs being commissioned across the country.

The minister, who gave the assurance in Abuja at the first graduation of trained power engineers from the National Power Training Institute of Nigeria (NAPTIN), said the assurance stemmed from the success of government’s capacity development programme for the power sector.

He said the graduation of the first set of 243 engineers by the institute, which took place on schedule, is a milestone on the road to achieving efficient and reliable local content in the unfolding new power sector.

Professor Nebo ruled out redundancy of the high calibre of engineers being produced under NAPTIN’s Graduate Skills Development Programme, saying there was great need for them in the now privatized power generation and distribution companies, the 10 NIPP facilities currently being commissioned in turns, as well as the Transmission Company of Nigeria where some of the young engineers had already been engaged.

He however added that the products of the institute are the critical mass of skilled manpower needed to take Nigeria to her envisaged place among the 20 most developed nations by 2020.