The Group Managing Director, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has advocated research and development (R&D), to boost local content initiatives in the country.
He said the sector must conduct research in areas such as oil production and exploration, fabrication, building of plants for the use of oil firms and other activities, which require utmost contributions of Nigerians.
He spoke at the first National Education Summit 2018 titled: “Sustaining Local Content through Quality Education and Training’’, organised by the Oil and Gas Trainers Association of Nigeria (OGTAN) in Lagos.
Represented at the event by the Nigerian Engineering Technical Company, (NETCO) Managing Director, Mr. Silky Aliyu, Baru urged operators to engage in cross-fertilsation of ideas in order to discover areas of improvement as regards the deployment of local content skills. He stressed that there are diverse areas where operators can use their knowledge and experience for the betterment of the industry without necessarily looking for expertise outside the country.
He decried a situation where graduates of petroleum engineering, geology and allied fields from Nigerian universities are unable to demonstrate huge capacity. He urged stakeholders, including the government, to develop a curriculum that is both academic and practical for the growth of the students.
When this happens, he said, it will not be difficult for the sector to harness the potentials in the local content policy for growth.
Also, Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) Executive Secretary, Simbi Wabote, said the country would help repatriate billions of dollars lost to capital flight once the stakeholders work towards developing local initiatives in the country.
He advised universities and other institutions to try and prepare students for employment, stressing that the job market is saturated and requires only people, who are ready to demonstrate competency in any fields they belong to.
“Local content development cuts across various sectors. Be it engineering, oil and gas, sciences, among others, locals are expected to use their depth of knowledge for growth. In Nigeria, the oil and gas is in need of local experts, who can demonstrate the skills that are being demonstrated by their foreign colleagues and bring about growth of the economy,” he added.
The Conference Chairman, Dr (Mrs) Obiageli Ezekwesili, said schools are lacking in the area of training students to meet the demands of their work. She advised that oil and gas is a field that requires thorough training of its workers in order to deliver results for the industry.
Ezekwesili, a former Minister of Education, said there is no curriculum in place that suits day-to-day demands of sectors such as oil and gas, power and others, urging education experts to work with private sector operators to record growth.
