Total Invests $10bn In Nigeria, Trains 53 entrepreneurs

Total Exploration and Production Nigeria Limited says it has trained 53 entrepreneurs nationwide in how to manage small and medium-scale business.

This, it said, was done in partnership with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, even as the firm said it had invested about $10bn in different projects in the last five years across the country.

The Total Executive General Manager, Corporate Social Responsibility, Vincent Nnadi, stated this in Abuja at the close of the training, noting that the entrepreneurs were drawn from the six geo-political zones.

The training was also facilitated by Toncia Energy Limited.

Nnadi said the entrepreneurs were trained in the SMEs such as paint manufacturing, inverter and solar systems production with installation, agriculture, web design and computer hardware installation.

He said, “In the last five years, Total has invested over $10bn in the Nigerian economy, in projects. You are aware that one of our biggest projects, which will soon commence production, is the Egina project, which will produce over 200,000 barrels of crude oil daily.

“While doing our business, we believe the population must not be left behind. Capacity building is one of the ways to transform our society by providing employment opportunities for our youths and invariably reducing the tendency to resort to crime. This training was aimed at improving the resilience of the new entrepreneurs. Every year, we train over 2000 entrepreneurs in various skills.”

The facilitator of the training and President of Afrihub Group, Prof Manny Aniebonam, said the criteria for the selection of the entrepreneurs included those persons with business passion and management excellence in their chosen vocations.

“In 2016 and 2017, we also had skills acquisition training for the youths sponsored by Total. In this training, the 53 entrepreneurs are 27 persons drawn from the northern region and 26 in the southern region,” Aniebonam added.