In Nigeria West Africa, it's a norm that every science student (either physical or medical sciences) ought to undergo some training in their respective field of studies, to acquire practical knowledge of the things taught in class before graduating from tertiary insitution. I as an engineering student is not exempted from this training, as it's a criterion of me graduating from the insitution.
Prior to the commencement of my training in Erylaston International Limited, I always wanted to carry out the training in any of the oil producing states in the country, where at least i can make enough money to run some expenses in my final year in the university. Due to some logistics beyond control, I found myself doing the training here in Benin City, Edo State at Erylaston International Limited (a building/road construction company).
My training in Erylaston commenced on wednesday 15th March 2017. On that fateful day, my colleauge/classmate Frank by name and I went as early as 7 o'clock in the morning to resume work for the day. That day at work was something else, we were like strangers to the staff and management of the company, even gotten to the extent where everyone entering into the office in the morning must surely asked us who we are, and what are we doing there.
Within the first two weeks of my stay in the company, I got myself familiarized with the various staff and clients to the company. I was placed to the administrative and plant yard section where I carried out my training for the duration of seven months, though the training was to last for six months (the whole of second semester in my fourth year).
In the first two months of my stay in the company, there were limited number of contracts, thereby making me less busy with work, not until i was asked to assist the accountant MR. Frank Ighodaro with his work, in order to have some basic knowledge in accounting.
My work with MR. Igho (as he's popularly called) was quite interesting and fun, though at first he was friendly and fun to be with, but later towards the ending of the training, he started behaving strange and gets angry easily over any slight mistake being done.
Working along side with Mr. Igho taught me alot of things in life, which i believe will go a long way in my career as an entrepreneur. I learnt about time management, book keeping, record taking, financial analysis, risk taking and how to withstand/face stress at work.
The pictures below is me when carrying out financial analysis on plant yard expenses on the month of June and July.
In the course of the training, i had the opportunity to witness how bidding and tendering of contracts is being done, how construction of foundation is carried out on site upto the damp proof concrete level known as DPC.
Here are some of the pictures i took while on site.
During foundation supervision on site...
Concrete mixing for the casting of DPC...
Casting of the DPC...
I also learnt about the functions of some civil engineering machines (earth work machines) like catepillar, payloader, lowbed, rollor and excavator.
Below are pictures of me with some of the machines in plant yard.
One of the event i won't forget in an hurry was the celebration of my birthday by the staff of the company. Miss Jennifer (the company's secretary) and Mr. Igho decided to celebrate my birthday colourfully in a way i never expected of them. They hosted the birthday all by themselves, baked cake, bought drinks/wines and ordered for jollof rice in nearby eatery all for the celebration. I was overwhelmed with the act of love shown by them, and i pray God bless them in return, Amen.
The pictures below were taken on my birthday celebration (August 25th).
Miss Itohen and I on the morning of my birthday at work...
That's me holding my birthday cake.
My beautiful birthday cake.
When i was celebrated by all...
At the end of the six months, when the training was almost coming to an end, i started missing them from a distance, we played, argued, sang, took pictures and finally say good bye to them all.
My training finally ended on the 10th of October 2017.
Below are some of the pictures taken during course of mt training while in office.
Miss Jennifer, Frank (my colleauge) and I. (We took this picture three weeks before our final good bye)
Miss Itohen, her friend (she came to visit) and I...
Below are some of the experience gotten from the training:
Project management
Quantitative/Analytical abilities
Decision making ability
Team work/interpersonal skills/presence
Self-management.
My Industrial Training (IT) was fun, interesting, educative, and explorative.
In conclusion, the reason I was unable to do my training in the oil producing states was destined by God!!!