By Yemie Adeoye

Stakeholders in the Oil and Gas Industry in Nigeria, last week, agreed to work towards adopting standard training models that will ensure that Nigerians are better equipped to work and optimize the training budgets and programmes in the oil and gas industry.

This was decided at the Oil & Gas Trainers Workshop organized by the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board, NCDMB, in conjunction with the Oil and Gas Trainers Association, OGTAN, in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.

Speaking at the event, the Executive Secretary, NCDMB, Mr. Ernest Nwapa explained that adopting standard training models under the auspices of OGTAN, will ensure that trainees are properly selected and the programmes professionally conducted.

He said this will also guarantee that beneficiaries of training programmes conducted by the Niger Delta Development Commission, Petroleum Technology Development Fund, international oil companies and local training companies meet same standards and are easily employed by the industry.

According to him, industry training programmes should also be extended to ancillary disciplines needed by the industry like accounting, law and banking, adding that beneficiaries must also obtain requisite certifications that will be recognized world over.

The NCDMB boss further said that the focus of Nigerian Content implementation is the creation of capacity in the country and jobs for Nigerians, hence training programmes must include indoctrination of the trainees to always promote the interest of the Nigerian economy. Nwapa charged OGTAN members to engage Training Managers of international oil companies and invest in their training locations and facilities, to be able to meet the training standards and needs of operating companies.

He also challenged Nigerians to start acquiring key equipment like marine vessels and drilling rigs, rather than just renting them, so that payments for the use of such equipments can be retained in the Nigerian economy.

He harped on the need to set up facilities where Nigerians who have obtained requisite training can work, adding that the Board will insist that such facilities and equipment get work, even where they are more expensive than their foreign counterparts, because the cost of leaving the populace unemployed has become too high for Government to ignore.

The Executive Secretary stated that putting work in such facilities will create employment for Nigerians and make the yards competitive. Nwapa noted that between 1980-2010, the Nigerian oil and gas industry imported goods and services worth over 300billion USD from foreign economies, with little or no patronage of the local industry.

He said, “Without changing this pattern, we will still get oil revenue but we would not be able to build support facilities, yards and factories to employ our youth.

“This will eventually lead to issues of the past such as industry being denied access to Oil and Gas installations.

This may be okay for some jurisdictions with small populations, but it is equivalent to suicide if we continue to import majority of our goods and services.”

The Executive Secretary also announced that the Board will soon commence the training of indigenes of oil bearing communities on the remediation of oil impacted areas.

He argued that inhabitants of oil impacted areas should demand for the remediation of their environments rather than just seek monetary compensation.