TotalEnergies in collaboration with the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Ltd., (NNPCL) has reiterated its commitment to ensuring consistent implementation of sustainable community development projects in Nigeria.
The Chief Upstream Investment Officer, NNPC Upstream Investment Management Services (NUIMS), Bala Wunti, disclosed this on Tuesday, in Lagos.
Wunti was speaking at the TotalEnergies’ Symposium and Awards with the theme, “Disrupting engineering education for sustainable national development”.
He also assured Nigerians of continued development services in education and other sectors of the country.
The Empower The Teachers (ETT) is a TotalEnergies initiative in collaboration with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
It has produced over 90 fellows, who are revolutionising the teaching of engineering courses in Nigerian universities.
Wunti, who represented Bunmi Lawson, Deputy Manager, External Relations, NUIMS, said the program was aimed at celebrating teachers.
He said that the program was not just an initiative, but a commitment to nurturing the growth and development of society.
He said that education is the cornerstone of progress and a program like Empowering The Teachers witnessed the fusion of innovation, excellence, and global collaboration.
According to him, the symposium and award ceremony marked a pivotal moment in recognizing the exceptional contributions of educators, who are shaping the future.
The NUIMS boss urged other operators to continue to support the initiative, saying that educators bridge the gap between theory and practice.
According to him, it also builds up a realistic curriculum and cultivates an environment where innovation and creativity thrive.
In his remarks, Matthieu Bouyer, Managing Director, TotalEnergies Upstream Nigeria Ltd., said that the company had invested in various scholarship schemes.
This, he said, included: the National Merit Scholarship Scheme, from which over 30,000 students had benefited since 2003.
Bouyer said that the TotalEnergies International Scholarship, jointly sponsored by NNPC Ltd., and partners, had assisted several Nigerians undergoing postgraduate studies overseas, with over 150 graduates since inception.
He said that the program was another educational initiative that TotalEnergies, in collaboration with NNPC Ltd and partners, had continued to invest in to further improve the quality of learning in Nigeria.
According to him, under the ETT program, academics selected from African Universities spend one intensive and inclusive semester acquiring knowledge on innovative skills.
He noted that it involves cutting-edge teaching methods used at MIT to mold students into industry-ready products.
Prof. Tayo Akinwande, Faculty Director, ETT Programme, MIT, said that the program was borne out of the idea to bring young African professors to the global stage and nurture them to become agents of change in the African educational landscape.
Akinwande said that the core vision of the initiative was to develop a new African faculty leadership in science and engineering to transform the subjects in tertiary institutions and produce graduates who are problem solvers.
He said: “It is one of the most rewarding projects l have worked on in my academic career because of its wide-ranging impact on lecturers and students in Nigeria/African universities.”
