'Tullow is committed to Ghana's economic growth'

Mr Charles Darku, General Manager of Tullow Ghana Limited (TGL), a leading independent oil & gas, exploration and production group, has stated that the investment in the Education sector through the Tullow Group Scholarship Scheme (TGSS) is designed to distribute some of the benefits from the oil resources through a competitive selection process to positively impact as many Ghanaian households as possible.

“Tullow’s aim of bringing long lasting sustainable growth to the oil and gas sector and the Ghanaian economy as a whole remains unchanged”, he said.

Mr Darku was speaking at an event in Accra last Friday night to send off beneficiaries of the 2014/2015 Tullow Scholarship Scheme.

The beneficiaries would study at the post-graduate level in the United Kingdom, Ireland and France. The courses of study include Water and Environmental engineering, Marine Spatial Planning, Bio-technology and Business Enterprise, Journalism, Media and Communication, Law and Corporate Social Responsibility.

The send off event was attended by forty-eight beneficiaries of the scheme and their families, the Minister of Energy & Petroleum, the Director-General of the Ghana Education Service, the acting C.E.O of the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) and the Vice-President of the Western region House of Chiefs. Others were representatives of the Petroleum Commission, the British Council of Ghana and senior managers of TGL.

“In 2012 when this scheme was launched after initially piloting with 24 Ghanaians drawn from the public sector, we set out to support post-graduate studies relevant to the oil and gas industry as well as other sectors that contribute to economic diversification. This, in my opinion is largely being achieved in many ways, particularly through the contribution of Tullow to the value supply chain sector of the country. I am also happy to note that Ghana remains the largest beneficiary of the scheme which is run out of nine countries”, the General Manager said.

On the future of TGSS, he said that in response to feedback received from some major stakeholders of the scheme, new programs at the pre-tertiary and tertiary levels will be introduced from the next academic year to broaden the scope and reach of the scheme, and thereby further enhance its benefit to the country.

The Minister of Energy & Petroleum, Mr Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah who was the Guest of Honour, commended Tullow for instituting the scheme and called on other companies in the Energy and Petroleum sector to emulate the laudable initiative.

“Four years into the role out of the TGSS, I can proudly say that government institutions that have benefited from it are better off today as a result of the knowledge and expertise that alumni of the program have brought to bear in our Ministries.

“My wish as a member of Governmentis to see a lot more oil companies committing equal resources towards developing the knowledge base of the industry, even if just at the local level”, the Minister said.

In a speech read on her behalf by the Director-General of the Ghana Education Service, Charles Aheto-Tsegah, the Minister for Education, Prof. Naana Jane Opoku-Agyeman added her voice to the commendation of Tullow for not only instituting the scheme, but also sustaining and maintaining its quality.

Ahead of the event, Mr Aidan Heavey, Chief Executive of Tullow Oil plc commented: “The Tullow Group Scholarship Scheme, now in its fourth year, is helping to create a legacy of academic and technical expertise, supporting students to gain employment and bring their enhanced capacity to their countries’ Oil & Gas industry. The scheme aims to address industry skills gaps and national capacity development requirements, and demonstrates our commitment to the countries where we operate.”

Mr Godfried Boakye, Acting Director of British Council, managers of the TGSS, said his outfit received a total of 5,501 written applications nationwide, out of which 595 applicants were invited for aptitude tests, group assessments and presentations in Accra, Takoradi & Kumasi.

He said a final selection of 48 scholars was made, which included 10 from western region and seven from various state ministries/agencies.

Tullow also fulfilled their commitment to the memory of Late President John Evans Atta-Mills by awarding the top 2 graduates from the Ghana School of Law with a scholarship to study at the prestigious London School of Economics and Political Science, the late President’s Alma Mata.

“As an organisation with over 40 years of experience in scholarship management in Ghana the British Council has remained true to its values of integrity, valuing people and professionalism in managing the recruitment and selection of candidates.

“We have followed meticulously the agreed criteria for selection to ensure that the most deserving candidates are successful. At each step of the way, the process has been objective, transparent, fair and robust”, Mr Boakye indicated.

Annually, the TGSS awards one hundred and ten (110) full scholarships to citizens of Ghana, Uganda, Gabon, Kenya, Ethiopia, Mauritania, Cote d’Ivoire, French Guiana and Bangladesh out of which fifty (50) are awarded to Ghanaians. About $2.7million is spent on the 50 beneficiaries each year. To date, one hundred and seventy-four (174) Ghanaians have benefitted from the scheme.