WELDING AND FABRICATION IN THE NIGERIAN ECONOMY: OPPORTUNITIES FOR

GROWTH AND JOB CREATION

1 2
Udeme Umoren and Martin Mweemba .
1
udeme.umoren@gmail.com, 08062898611.
2
mmwmb@icloud.com, 09032499373.

A technical paper proposed to be presented at the 2017 NSE National Engineering Conference, at
Chida Events Centre, Utako, Abuja between November 20th - 24th, 2017

Abstract:

The shortage of skilled and experienced local man-power has resulted in the continuous import of
welders and welding engineers to execute specialized welding techniques in Nigeria’s petroleum
industry [12, 17]. The potential for the welding fabrication industry to create numerous jobs and
immense revenue has not been achieved [9]. The structured welding practices in the petroleum
industry and un-structured practices in other sectors of the economy were analyzed. The
inadequacy of existing welding training and non-implementation of policies and regulations targeted
at growing local capacity has been a drawback for this industry. Government policies should
ensure institutionalization of welding industry best practices [5-6] that would lead to investments in
training, laboratories and fabrication workshops to support key areas of the economy including
farming, power, telecommunication and the petroleum industry.

Introduction

The fabrication of metallic equipment can be made by various techniques including welding,
casting, forging, rolling and extrusion [1]. During welding, two or more metallic parts are joined to
form a single part. The parts to be joined are typically heated at the joint to a liquid state, the liquids
then mix, cool and solidify forming a metallurgical bond. The various types of welding processes
can be broadly categorized into gas welding, arc welding and high-energy beam welding [2].

Welding as a means of joining metals is a major enabling technology in the manufacture of

everyday items like doors, window protectors, farming tools, cars, ships, pipelines, oil platforms and
bridges. In a research conducted in the United States [3], industries that depend on welding
technology like the manufacturing, construction and mining industries, produced a combined
revenue of US $3.1 trillion in 2000, which was approximately one-third of the United States Gross
Domestic Product (GDP). The research also showed that labour represented 70% of the total
welding-related expenditure, or US $22.4 billion in 2000, producing jobs for over 565,000 persons
in a market which has a significant automated welding sector.

The extent and potential impact of welding to the Nigerian economy is said to be enormous, though
there is no documented research that provides the exact contribution welding makes to Nigeria’s
Gross Domestic Product (GDP). A key sector of the economy where the impact of welding is
obvious is the oil and gas industry; here a significant percentage of equipment construction is now
done in-country due mostly to the passage of the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content
Development Act, 2010 [4]. Apart from some household items like window protectors and security
gates that are mostly fabricated locally, most other items fabricated items imported.
This paper looks at the current state of welding in Nigeria, and factors that affect its contribution to
the economy, and provides recommendations on how welding can immensely drive the productive
capacity of Nigeria, and be a leading light in the strive for economic diversification from oil and gas.

Review of Current State of Welding in Nigeria

This review of the welding industry in Nigeria was conducted through desktop study of oil and gas
industry publications and presentations, welding related articles online, discussion with welding
industry practitioners and the writers’ personnel experience.

a. Welding Fabrication Regulations:

Federal or state codes or standards regulating the practice of welding in Nigeria do not exist.
Individual organizations establish and implement practices applied during welding fabrications, with
limited technical and safety monitoring by government agencies. In the oil and gas industry, the
multinationals apply international codes and standards [5-7], which are incorporated in the project
specific welding specifications. These international standards and codes provide requirements for
welding design, personnel qualification, weld procedure qualification and safety and health
considerations.

b. Welding Quality Assurance:

A high quality level of products fabricated by welding cannot be achieved through inspection, but
has to be built into the product through a quality program that covers the design, material and
welding process selection, actual fabrication and post-fabrication activities [8]. A quality system has
the potential to increase productivity and profitability of welding fabrication organizations [9]. Apart
from welding fabrications by a few multinationals, the majority of welding fabrication activities in
Nigeria do not follow a formal quality management systems.

c. Welding Personnel

The guidance on the various skill areas that contribute to weld fabrication is provided in [10], and
the major roles are listed below:

1. The welding engineer oversees the selection of the welding consumables, the welding
process and process variables to ensure quality welds between specified materials.
2. The laboratory technicians and scientists ensure appropriate test are conducted on weld
samples, to confirm they possess the required mechanical, micro structural and corrosion
resistant properties specified by the welding engineer.
3. The welder executes the weld in compliance with the welding procedure approved by the
welding engineer.
4. The inspector conducts quality control activities to ensure the laboratory sample weld
testing, and workshop and field weld test are in compliance with approved procedures
or/and specifications.
5. The safety officer ensures health and safety standards are maintained. As we would see
later in this paper, health and safety is a major issue in welding.

Apart from the roles listed above, depending on the scope, scale and complexity of the fabrication
project, there may be a project manager, project engineers, construction engineers etc. Some of
the listed roles may be combined and executed by the same person. Apart from the oil and gas
industry, of the major welding-related roles listed above, only the welder is engaged in welding
activities in Nigeria, with a total absence of potential jobs for welding engineers, inspectors, safety
officers and laboratory technicians [12, 17]
d. Training and Training Centers

The International Institute of Welding (IIW) provides the minimum requirements for training,
examination and certification of personnel involved in welding activities [11]. The majority of
welding activities in Nigeria are conducted by artisans, and most of the artisans are not exposed to
formalized trainings and do not have the required certifications. The artisans learn on the job, as is
common for most artisans in Nigeria. A common theme with the services provided by these
artisans is the “trial and error” experience, where the quality of work is established after multiple
failures. In contrast, the quality of welding fabrications has to be intentionally built-in through a
quality management system [8].

In the Nigerian oil and gas industry, where the margins for error are really small due to the high risk
of explosions or catastrophic failures leading to potential fatalities or environmental damage, most
of the welding activities until a few years back where executed by foreigners who possessed the
required training and certifications. The 2010 local content development act [4] has since
stimulated the training and certification of Nigerians in welding related job functions. This recent
capacity development was achieved through funds provided by the Petroleum Development Trust
Fund (PTDF), Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) and International Oil companies
(IOCs) for the training and certification of Nigerian welders and the upgrading of local fabrication
workshops [12-17]. But despite the recent progress, a large number of foreign welders are still
engaged in Nigerian projects. The foreign welders are now mostly engaged in specialized forms of
welding during offshore pipeline laying and during welding of not so common metallic materials
including super duplex stainless steel, aluminum or nickel alloy.

Another highlight of local content act is the granting of the Nigerian Institute of Welding (NIW) the
status of an Authorized National Body (ANB) by the International Institute of Welding (IIW) [11-12].
The NIW can now train all levels of welding personnel in-country (Welding Specialist, Welding
Technician, Welding Technologist and Welding Engineer) and regulate welding activities in Nigeria.
The NIW also certifies and regulates the activities of welding training schools that can implement
the IIW training programs in Nigeria, known as Authorized Training Bodies.

e. Sample Weld Testing Laboratories:

Until recently, sample test welds were shipped and tested at laboratories outside Nigeria. In the last
five years, several ISO 17025 [18] approved laboratories have been established by private firms to
provide testing services to qualify welding procedures and welders locally. The testing facilities and
quality management system provided by these private laboratories are in sharp contrast with
conditions obtained in government own laboratories, where most of the testing equipment are
obsolete, not maintained, not calibrated, and have no quality management system.

In November 2016, Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company (SNEPCO) and it co-
ventures (ExxonMobil, TOTAL and ENI) donated facilities including a modern test laboratory to the
Nigerian Institute of Welding (NIW) at Imasabor-Ologbo, Benin City, for welding-related and
material testing in the oil and gas industry [16].

f. Health and Safety:

The impact of welding on the health of welders in Nigeria has been documented in various
research papers [19-22].The absence of safety regulations for welding in Nigeria has resulted in
the low utilization of personnel protective equipment (PPE) by welders and absence of safety
programs and equipment at most welding locations.Apart from the short-term and long-term health
issues, there has been fires, and even fatalities as a result of unsafe welding practices in the oil
and gas industry.

g. Research and Development in Welding Engineering and Fabrication

Local research in welding has the potential to introduce innovations that would improve the quality
of welding fabrications, and increase profitability and competiveness of fabrications made in
Nigeria. Welding research is one of the goals of the Nigerian Institute of Welding (NIW) [12].

Economic Impact of Welding Industry

The lack of a structured welding management system has resulted in the general low productivity
of welding fabrications in the manufacturing, construction and mining industries in Nigeria.
However, the oil and gas industry local content development act [4] has led to an increase in the
volume of equipment designed and fabricated locally. This has created many welding related jobs,
producing many trained and qualified welding engineers, welders, and inspectors; and increased
the oil and gas expenditure on welding fabrications made locally.

In spite of the recent successes, a large number of welders and welding engineers working on
Nigerian oil and gas projects are not Nigerians, resulting loss of revenue and potential jobs by
Nigerians. On a general outlook, most of the welded fabricated items used in Nigeria are imported.

A structured welding fabrication industry with management systems that specify requirements in
international codes and standards [5-6,8, 10—11, 18], has the potential to improve the safety and
health of workers in the welding industry, while promoting practices that would increase the
productivity and profitability of welding fabrications in Nigeria. A structured welding industry would
result in welding firms that have the minimum technical competency to understand written codes,
qualify welding procedures and safely execute welding fabrications.

A welding management system would create jobs for the welding engineer, inspector, welder,
laboratory and safety officer. Even though, in the short term, the cost of “road side” welding
fabrications would increase due to the additional cost associated with implementing a welding
management system, in the mid to long term the cost would be offset by an increased capacity to
fabricate items on a larger scale with superior quality, leading to specialization, economies of scale,
innovations in fabrication methods, and even export of fabricated products that can compete
favorably within the West Africa region and beyond.

Recommendations

a. Regulation and Recommended Practices:

Government should institute regulations and practices for welding fabrications.

1. Weld and Welder Qualifications: Nigerian standards should be established that provide
requirements for the design and qualification of weld procedures, welders, welding
operators and the execution of welding fabrications.
2. Health and Safety: Nigerian standards should be established that stipulates the minimum
safety and health requirements for the welding industry. These requirements should
address personnel protective equipment (PPE) like eye goggles, breathing apparatus,
hearing protection and fire retardant coveralls. Other required safety requirements include
 gas monitoring and ventilation, fire detection, emergency response plans, and periodic
medical checks and health insurance.
3. Laboratory Qualification: Regulations should be established that specify requirements for
qualification and certification of laboratories for sample weld testing and examination.
4. Minimum competency: Regulations should be established that specify the minimum
training for welders. The minimum training should include an introduction to key health and
safety issues in welding, the concept of weld procedure and welder qualification and
awareness of welding-related government regulations.
b. Training Facilities
Universities should offer degrees in welding engineering; this may be as an option in Mechanical
Engineering or Materials Engineering. Polytechnics and technical colleges should be provided with
calibrated and modern equipment and trained instructors to ensure they have the capacity to train
welders and inspectors.

The current scholarship provided by PTDF, NDDC and oil companies for the training of welders
should be encouraged and maintained. The scholarship should be extended to students studying
for the IIW certifications.

Firms should be encouraged to fund research into welding and fabrication in Nigerian Universities
and Polytechnics. The research may include development of innovative welding techniques, cost
effective local welding consumables and tools, and large scale fabrication of farm tools, and food
storage and processing equipment.

c. Regulation Enforcement

The government should set up an agency to monitor and ensure compliance with regulations
related to welding fabrications.

1. Ministry of Health: An agency in the Ministry of Health at the federal and state levels should
established to verify and promote compliance with applicable health and safety regulations
and practices during welding activities at all sectors of the economy including small scale
“road-side” welders and large scale fabrication site and offshore installation welders.
2. COREN: A technical monitoring team should be established and mandated to monitor and
ensure all welders have the minimum training and specified working experience (number of
hour or length of welds) prior to working unsupervised. The agency should also verify that
approved welding procedures are used for all welding fabrication works.

Conclusion

Governments at all levels in Nigeria need to enact regulations and policies that promote health and
safety at welding fabrication sites, adherence to welding quality management systems, and
encourage training and research in welding. Welding fabrication in Nigeria has the potential to
create many jobs, increase local manufacturing capacity, reduce importation of finished goods and
contribute economic development of Nigeria. The fabricated products can be exported and
compete favorably within the West Africa economic zone. A further area of study is the
determination of the actual contributions welding fabrication makes to Nigeria’s GDP.
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