Uche Cecil Izuora
Sahara Power Group, a Sahara Group company, and Sub-Saharan Africa’s largest privately owned integrated power company, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding, MoU, with Pan-Atlantic University (PAU) to drive enhanced human capital in the power sector through transformative engineering education and fostering collaboration across industries.
The partnership will see Sahara Power Group join forces with the PAU’s School of Science and Technology for capacity building through shared knowledge driven by insights, experiences, and opportunities for exchange programs between Sahara and PAU.
This is expected to shore up “empirical capacity and impact” required to make the power sector “innovative, adaptable and sustainable” across the value chain.
Describing the partnership as a unique example of “town-gown relations”, the Managing Director, Sahara Power Group, Dr. Anthony Youdeowei, said “This is the beginning of a very fruitful engagement between Sahara and PAU. We look forward to commencing this promising collaboration, first with Egbin Power Plc, Sahara’s Power Generation Company and then cascading to our other entities, Ikeja Electric and First Independent Power Limited.
We are confident that this partnership will chart the roadmap towards transforming Nigeria’s power sector.” Youdeowei added that Sahara Power remained committed to seeking out partnerships that would help drive its vision of “Creating Valuable and Sustainable Energy Solutions responsibly”.
According to Professor Christian Bolu, a Professor of Mechatronics Engineering, and the Head of the Department of Mechanical Engineering, PAU, the partnership will help PAU students to achieve an “outside perspective” and understand the importance of sustainable business practices in solving the real-life challenges of the power sector. “This is definitely an opportunity for Pan-Atlantic University to not only benefit from the resources that the Sahara Power Group will provide in the collaborative partnership, but also, while it serves as a chance for us in the academia, with support from Sahara Power, to address challenges faced within the industry,” he said.
Speaking on the details of the agreement, Henry Ajibola, Head, Talent Management, Sahara Power Group, stated: “We are very confident that this collaboration between Sahara Power Group and Pan-Atlantic University is the step in the right direction. Having Sahara Power employees go to Pan-Atlantic University as adjunct lecturers means a transference of practical knowledge as well as experience.” He further emphasized that these efforts will subsequently create a symbiotic relationship where academia and industry collaborate seamlessly for mutual benefit, ultimately contributing to the advancement of engineering education and practice in Nigeria.
Nkiru Ukachukwu, Director, Alumni and Internship, Pan-Atlantic University, said PAU was looking forward to the impact of the partnership on the expertise of PAU students, especially with regards to functional knowledge of how the sector operates and what is required to transform the power sector in Nigeria. “With this collaboration we can already project a pipeline of young engineers that are future ready and equipped with the know-how to tackle Nigeria’s peculiar power challenges,” she stated.
Sahara Power Group has consistently advocated the need for the power sector in Africa to rethink its human capital profile to enable it address challenges, optimize emerging opportunities, drive generational knowledge transfer, and birth future solutions today through technology. “This partnership, is one of the vehicles for keeping employees agile and adaptable to unfolding trends”, concluded Bethel Obioma, Head, Corporate Communications at Sahara Group.
Sahara Power Group operates Egbin Power, the largest thermal plant in sub-Saharan Africa, Ikeja Electric, Nigeria’s largest distribution company, and First Independent Power Limited (FIPL). Sahara Power, through these entities, contributes 17% (percent) of power generated and distributed in Nigeria, making it the nation’s foremost power company.