BY ANNY MICHAELS
Quietly a first class oil servicing company known as Petro Pride Subsea Limited, along Eket-Ibeno road, in Edebuk , Eket Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State. The Company is into drilling maintenance services, on-shore/off shore construction services, topside modification services and marine vessels (solutions). The company started providing these quality services in 2008 with offshore staff put at 88, onshore - 50 and Admin staff – 30, totaling 168 employees.
This effort so far is made possible by a young, dynamic and enterprising Chief Executive Officer of the Company, Mr Anthony Ikott who has a very rich experience in the Oil and Gas sub sector of our economy. The massive site at Eket which is currently undergoing construction in phases worth millions of naira is expected to be completed towards the end of this year and the company is 100% indigenously owned with a fabrication yard facility of 59,000 square metre and has a 93 percent Nigerian content capacity.
According to the Technical Engineer of the Company, Mr Abasiama Uwah, there are plans to get more women involved in the company processes. ‘’We have plans to make a woman head of offshore construction as a Superintendent. Fabrication workshop is going to be 100 by 40m (about a 4,000 square metre as a crane has already been purchased to ease the work ’’ Uwah opined.
According to him the trainees in the company are from the neighbouring communities there in Eket most of them without any skill at all on arrival, the company trains them on fabrication and after training they decide to work for the company.
Interestingly, the training is being done by experts in fabrication whom the CEO has brought in from overseas to train these young people. He added that the company do not insist on the trainees to work for the company as they are free to take up greener opportunities as they present themselves in the industry but the company pays the staff well compared to what is obtained in other allied companies so the staff or trainees hardly leave especially given the discipline and excellent welfare services they get from the company.
When the Distinctively Distinguished Senator representing Akwa Ibom North East in the 8th Senate and Chair of the esteemed Senate Committee on Gas, Senator Bassey Albert recently officially visited the company about the time the Oil and Gas summit took place in Uyo at L’Meridien Hotels and Golf Resort, he was surprised that this much is being achieved by an indigene of the State in line with the industrialization drive of Gov Udom Emmanuel yet receives very little publicity for his efforts and encouraged other privileged Akwa Ibom people to create business atmosphere that can make our youths to be gainfully employed.
‘’ I’m quite impressed with what l have seen here and l know with the training opportunity being given by this company a lot of our youths are going to be gainfully employed. But l must give to the CEO, Mr Anthony Ikott for a job well done in putting this in place and l encourage more of our privileged Akwa Ibom sons and daughters to key into this spirit’’ Senator Albert stressed.
The CEO of the company, Mr Anthony Ekott who took the Senator round the facility said it was his little contribution to boosting the economy of the State and that of Nigeria by extension. He also pointed out that the company enjoys a robust relationship with the host community.
He is of the view that business capacity can be sustained with the right attitude, determination and goodwill. Methink Ekott deserves to be encouraged by government by way of tax rebate or holiday for some time to enable him channel those resources to completing that multi – million naira massive facility for the good of our people particularly the youths of which he is providing training for at no cost.
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