Oil and Gas Development Company (OGDCL) and Institute of Business Administration (IBA) Karachi and Sukkur have launched first national talent hunt program for the students of backward areas especially oil/gas producing districts. The agreement signing ceremony was held here Tuesday with Federal Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi in the chair.
Briefing media Zahir Mir, Managing Director (MD) OGDCL said that the state owned oil/gas Exploration and Production (E&P) company over the next five years will spend Rs 200 million on imparting state of the art education to the students of the backward areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhawa (KPK) and Balochistan. Petroleum Minister directed the OGDCL management to select all the students under the program from gas producing districts of the KPK and Balochistan.
He said in the past few years OGDCL has spent over Rs 7 billion on account of Corporate Sector Responsibility (CSR) and for ongoing year the company will spend 1.8 billion under this head. Talented students will be selected from various districts of the country. Special consideration will be given to those districts where OGDCL has operational activities. Initially 300 students from IBA Sukkur and 100 Students from IBA Karachi will be selected for the initial semester and orientation program. OGDCL will contribute PKR. 111.228 Million to IBA Karachi and PKR. 77.72 Million to IBA Sukkur spread over a period of 5 years and 4 years respectively.
Mir said that every year OGDCL was providing training opportunities to 600 students of the national universities, adding that this year on the instructions of the Petroleum Minister the company has introduced national internship program. The company has selected 75 students from each province for internship program of one year and every participant is getting Rs 25,000 per month stipend. Officials of the IBA stated that the institute will also contribute Rs 200 million for the program with an objective to bring the students of backward areas at par with the developed regions of the country.
MD OGDCL also said that the company was also talking to other top national universities of the country including Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS), National Defence University (NDU) and Quaid-e-Azam University to launch such programs for the students of least developed areas.
OGDCL has also selected another batch of 200 students from the backward areas for imparting them with technical and vocational training. The company has built a girl hostel in Quaid-i-Azam University with a capacity to accommodate 300 students of Balochistan and KPK province. The main objective of the Talent Hunt program is to provide an opportunity to needy and under privileged students of the rural area of Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhawa & Balochistan. The program will help students in attaining quality professional education and improving their employment prospects. The Minister for Petroleum & Natural Resources Shahid Khaqan Abbasi was the chief guest of the occasion which was also attended by the Board and the Senior Management of OGDCL along with the Senior Management of IBA Karachi & Sukkur IBA.