The National Petroleum Authority (NPA) is exploring a partnership with the University of Mines and Technology (UMaT) to strengthen innovation, technical training and professional development in Ghana’s downstream petroleum industry.
The Chief Executive Officer of the NPA, Godwin Kudzo Tameklo, Esq., disclosed this when a delegation from UMaT, led by the Dean of the School of Petroleum Studies, Professor Richard Amorin, paid a courtesy call on him on Tuesday, October 20, 2026.
Mr Tameklo said collaboration between the Authority and academic institutions would help advance the industry by promoting research and innovative approaches to addressing challenges in the downstream petroleum sector.
“We would want to continue the engagement with academia because we strongly believe that it will propel the downstream industry, because what academia does is to come up with innovative ways of doing things,” he said.
He added that the NPA would explore opportunities to offer internships to UMaT students, particularly in the Authority’s technical departments, to expose them to practical industry operations.
“The Authority will also be looking at the possibility of offering some students of the University internship opportunities in some of the technical departments of the NPA, because sometimes it is good for the students to have first-hand opportunity to experience things for themselves,” Mr Tameklo said.
The discussions also covered special training and secondment opportunities for UMaT teaching staff, the possible inclusion of the university in training programmes under the proposed NPA Centre of Excellence, and the potential retooling of a laboratory at UMaT as part of the initiative.
Professor Amorin thanked the NPA leadership for its willingness to collaborate with the university, expressing hope that the discussions would lead to a formal partnership.
“We want to say thank you for having us and for having the openness to collaborate with us. We will relay this information to the Vice Chancellor, and hopefully we can firm up some of the discussions we have had going forward,” he said.
Both institutions expressed optimism that the engagement would help bridge the gap between academic research and industry practice while supporting skills development and innovation in Ghana’s downstream petroleum industry.
The NPA says it remains committed to building partnerships with academic institutions as part of its mandate to regulate, oversee and monitor the downstream petroleum sector.