Rita Enemuru, Reporting
THE Federal Government has charged the Oil and Gas Trainers Association of Nigeria (OGTAN) to prepare Nigerian professionals for the unprecedented number of oil and gas projects expected in the country, assuring the association of government support to develop the human capital needed to execute the projects.
The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Oil), Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, gave the charge on Thursday at the OGTAN Human Capacity Development Conference at the Petroleum Training Institute (PTI) Conference Hall, Effurun, Delta State.
Lokpobiri said renewed investor confidence had brought billions of dollars in investment into Nigeria and created a pipeline of projects that would require competent Nigerian personnel.
He said the development placed OGTAN and other training institutions at the centre of the country’s efforts to maximise the benefits of the industry’s expansion.
“Under the president’s government, the confidence of the investing community is back to Nigeria. We are getting investment coming in billions of dollars. We have unprecedented number of projects that are coming into the country and it is expected that people work on these project and they are the OGTAN members.”
The minister said Nigeria’s strategic position also gave it the potential to supply human capital beyond its borders, insisting that the country’s available capacity placed it in a strong position within Africa.
He said the changing energy landscape meant trainers could not continue relying on existing knowledge but must themselves undergo retraining to acquire the expertise required to train the next generation of oil and gas professionals.
“The energy landscape is changing and you the trainers need to be retrained so that they can be equipped with the requisite knowledge and transfer that knowledge to those who are ready to work in the oil and gas industry.”
Lokpobiri said the government was ready to support OGTAN in delivering its mandate, particularly as the scale of projects expected in Nigeria would require a large pool of competent workers.
“It is important to know that the Africa and whole world is looking to Nigeria for human capital. The capacity we have is nonexistent in other African countries. With the volume of projects we will be experiencing in Nigeria, we need you on ground.”
He added: “As government, we are behind you and we will support you.”
The OGTAN President, Chris Osarumwense, said the choice of PTI as the venue reflected the association’s desire to place human capital development at the centre of the industry itself rather than confine discussions to conventional conference locations.
He said the conference was intended to promote collaboration among government, regulators, oil and gas companies, training providers, universities and technical institutions, noting that no single stakeholder could resolve the industry’s human capital challenges alone.
“Government alone cannot solve it. Regulators cannot solve it alone. Oil and gas companies cannot solve it alone.
Training providers cannot solve it alone. Universities and technical institutions cannot do so alone either. The industry needs collaboration across the value chain.”
In his speech, the PTI Principal and Executive, Dr Samuel Onoji, said the institute’s 54-year contribution to Nigeria’s petroleum industry went beyond the certificates issued to its graduates, noting that its alumni had operated facilities, maintained equipment, solved technical problems and supported production.
Onoji said human capacity development must remain at the centre of Nigeria’s local-content agenda because competent personnel were essential to technology deployment and the attraction and development of investments.
He said PTI was positioning key infrastructure projects for development and modernisation through public-private partnerships, which would enable the institute to attract private capital, technical expertise, technology and innovation while complementing government resources.
