Ugandans should prepare and be ready to grab an estimated 160,000 jobs that will be available in the oil and gas sector from June this year , Minister of Information ,Ms. Judith Nabakooba ,has said.
Nbakooba in her weekly media briefing said that President Museveni agreed to sing the oil agreements with the oil companies (TOTAL from France and the Chinese- CNOOC) after doing thorough due diligence that Uganda will not be cheated out of its natural resources .
The oil and gas investing companies have promised to put on table at least some 10 billion US dollars in the construction of the oil pipeline from Uganda to Tanzania’s sea port of Tanga on top of pumping the waxy oil for commercial use .
“This investment will significantly benefit the people of Uganda and Tanzania. For Uganda alone, it will provide the resources we need to start on our initial plan of building a refinery, Nabakooba emphasized while assuring the country that the oil refinery will ensure that the country maximizes all the benefits that come with oil resource.
Nabakooba revealed that the design of the refinery is now at 90% complete meaning that the construction will begin any time soon.
What are the employment numbers
The Minister said that there will be about 14,000 direct employment opportunities for Ugandans and another projected 45,000 indirect employment opportunities by the contractors plus induced employment of about 105,000 people as a result of the utilisation of other services by the oil and gas sector.
Out of the direct employment, 57% -of all the jobs will be preserved for Ugandans, Nabakooba stated ,adding that , most of these jobs will be related to oil pipe construction, engineering work in the drilling sectors, transportation, leisure and hospitality sectors, security among others .
This means that at least close to 30% of all contracts in sectors such as transport, logistics, food, security will all go to local Ugandans not forgetting that the pipeline will go through 10 districts of Uganda before entering Tanzania. The districts include Hoima, Kakumiro, Kyankwanzi, Mubende, Gomba, Sembabule, Lwengo, Kyotera, Rakai and Kikuube.
Industry experts have stated that Uganda will earn at least in the upwards of 30bn USD over 25 years of its oil production equaling and or overtaking other oil producing countries like Brazil .
Nabakooba says that these revenues will be a huge catalyst to propel Uganda to a middle and first-class country with high quality services in all sectors. “Government is going to be transparent and inclusive to ensure that all voices are represented in the process, “ she said .
Thank you