Africa:Nexus Alliance Bags Contract with GE's Industrial Facility

Posted on : Thursday , 11th December 2014

 General Electric (GE) has awarded Nexus Alliance Limited, contract for the technical training and capacity development of all personnel that will be engaged at its (GE's) Multimillion dollar Manufacturing and Assembly facility situated in Calabar, Cross River State. Vice Chairman of GE Mr. John Rice, this in Abuja during a recent visit to Nigeria. He said the contract award was in fulfillment of the pledge made by Chairman of GE, Mr. Jeff Immelt.

Immelt, in January last year announced a $1billion investment plan in Nigeria, out of which $250 million would be earmarked for capital expenditure to make Calabar a regional hub for manufacturing, service, and innovation.

The facility will have a robust structure to support a broader range of product lines in power generation as well as oil and gas exploration and production. GE has also pledged to spend an additional $800 million over the next five years in local sourcing of goods/services, labour, staff welfare and training.

While receiving Rice, the Minister of Petroleum Resources Mrs. Deziani Allison Madueke noted that GE's significant investment in Nigeria would facilitate the goal of strengthening local capacity for the industry. She re-echoed the commitment of the current administration to attracting foreign direct investments to the nation. She assured GE of the commitment to provide investors an environment where businesses and investments can thrive.

Responding, Executive Secretary of the Nigeria Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), Ernest Nwapa, said the award of the contract aligns with the Board's vision to ensure that operators in the oil and gas sector localise their operations and create jobs for Nigerians. When completed and fully operational, the GE manufacturing and Assembly facility in Calabar will create as least 2,300 direct and indirect jobs.

Also, contracts for the reconstruction and upgrade of the Government Technical College, Ikot Iffanga have also been awarded by GE. Apart from upgrading the existing infrastructure in the school, GE will provide technical equipment and training for the lecturers. The aim is to support the institution in producing world class technicians that could possibly work in the GE manufacturing and Assembly plant in Calabar or any other such facility in the world.

Nexus Alliance Limited emerged as the preferred bidder to anchor the technical training and capacity development part of the project after the bid rounds were concluded while Julius Berger won the engineering, procurement and construction contract (EPC) for the construction of the facility. Also awarded to Julius Berger was the contract to build a training facility on the manufacturing site that ensures the training and development of the personnel that will be engaged in the project. The training facility will serve as a knowledge portal for the provision of relevant industry trainings both locally and internationally to the all the personnel.

Succinctly, this facility will enable GE to provide training programs locally and internationally in the areas of engineering, welding, fabrication, operations and special processing. The project however is expected to create over 2000 jobs and also set to make Calabar the hub of manufacturing for power and oil and gas industry.

Nexus Alliance Limited is a fully Nigerian owned company with capabilities in training and technology services for the oil and gas, petrochemical, energy and process industries. The company was formed in 1998 under a platform of bridging the gap between the skilled manpower needs of Multi-national Corporations and the output from the Nigerian educational system. Nexus has been at the forefront of pioneering projects that contribute to the increase in the capacity of Nigerians to support ever more complex technologies in the energy sector.

It also provides operations readiness and asset integrity solutions for the energy industry. The company ran the SITP program for Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) from in 1998 until it ended in 2010. Powered by the vision to be a major player globally in the provision of human and operational improvement solutions, Nexus builds competence for technology, which is rapidly translated into action in the workplace, giving her clients the ultimate competitive business advantage.