C' River Invests N700 Million in Oil and Gas Skills for 2,000 Youths
By Missang AKPET
The Cross River State Government has spent N700 million to empower 2,000 youths with skills in the oil and gas sector.
The Chief Executive Officer of Research Gateway Professional Institute, Ambassador Thankgod Arong, disclosed this on Thursday while briefing newsmen at the Ernest Etim Bassey Press Centre in Calabar.
Arong said the institute charges N500,000 per student for the oil and gas training, but subsidized the fee to N350,000 for the Cross River State Government for the 2,000 beneficiaries.
He explained that the total sum paid for the 2,000 beneficiaries sumed up to N700 million for the empowerment programme, adding that the beneficiaries will be trained for six weeks.
Speaking at the briefing, the Senior Special Assistant, Political, to the Governor of Cross River State, Mr. Dunamis Archibong, said the empowerment is not a political show nor a means to settle political loyalists of the governor and the ruling party as perceived by many.
Archibong who is also the president of the Research Gateway Professional Institute Alumni said the forms for the empowerment were made public over a month ago and individuals applied willingly, with thorough screening conducted to select the participants.
Commenting on the benefits of the training, an Oil and Gas consultant, Mr. Adi Mac, expressed optimism that Cross River State will regain its place among oil producing states and the services of the beneficiaries will be in high demand.
He noted that Cross River is now projected to regain oil-producing status for the first time since 2008, after the submission of the final report by the Federal Government Inter-Agency Technical Committee in February to the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission, RMAFC, following a nationwide verification that ran from August 2025 to February 2026.
According to him, Cross River received another major boost on July 21, 2026, when the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, NUPRC, announced winners for the 2025 Licensing Round where three oil blocks in the Calabar Flank relevant to Cross River were awarded, marking the first major upstream investment in the Calabar Flank in decades.
