Accra, Dec. 10, GNA - The Management Development and Productivity Institute under the Ministry of Employment and Social Welfare has developed a training course in oil and gas to meet the demands of the emerging oil and gas industry in Ghana.

Mr Enoch Teye Mensah, Minister of Employment and Social Welfare made this known to the media at the Ministry of Information' s Meet- the-Press series in Accra on Thursday.

He said a total of 3,000 people have so far registered for the course which was scheduled to begin in the first quarter of 2011. The Employment Minister said the institute would also run various Master Degree programmes in General Management for public service officials to reposition itself as one of the training outlets providing relevant skills training and knowledge to public sector workers. Mr Mensah said as part of its activities for the promotion of productivity in the country, the institute would re-launch the National Productivity Week to promote productivity consciousness among the labour force.

He said the ministry collaborated with some sector Ministries, Departments and development partners on issues relating to national human resource development, creation of employment opportunities and social investments to enhance the achievement of the Social Democratic agenda of the Government.

He mentioned institutions such as the National Vocational Training Institute (NVTI), Integrated Community Centres for Employable Skills, Opportunities Industrialisation Centres of Ghana and the Department of Social Welfare's training and rehabilitation centres who are actively involved in human resource development in the country.

Mr Mensah said the NVTI had provided skills training for 9,648 trainees in the field of instructor training, school-based apprenticeship, defensive driving and on-the-job training.

He said it was also expected that an additional number of 29,000 candidates for trade tests, 5,000 candidates for secretarial examinations and 1000 candidates for Information, Communication Technology examinations would also complete their respective trainings by the end of the year. Mr Mensah said the ministry was negotiating with development partners to retool all the NVTI institutes to enable trainees to interface with the state of the art equipment and technology in the nation's skills acquisition process.