Nigeria’s ability to secure a sustainable energy future will depend not only on its abundant natural resources but also on the quality, skills and adaptability of its workforce, the Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF) and the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) have said.
The two organisations made the position known at the ongoing 5th PENGASSAN Energy and Labour Summit (PEALS) in Abuja, where stakeholders examined the role of human capital in strengthening Nigeria’s energy security and supporting the sector’s transition.
Prof. Shuaibu Aliyu, PTDF Executive Secretary, said Nigeria’s energy challenge was, in many respects, a human-capital challenge, stressing that the expertise required to develop, operate, maintain and regulate the sector must evolve alongside technological changes.
Speaking on the theme, “Energy Security and Human Capital: Building the Workforce Nigeria Needs for Sustainable Energy Development,” Aliyu said energy security would remain difficult to achieve without a workforce capable of responding to emerging technologies and changing industry demands. “Nigeria’s energy security depends not only on the resources we possess, but also on the people who develop, manage, maintain and regulate them,” he said.
He called for greater investment in technical education, vocational training, apprenticeships, digital skills and continuous professional development.
According to him, priority should be given to emerging areas such as renewable energy, energy efficiency, automation, data management and other technologies shaping the future of the global energy industry.
Aliyu said PTDF was repositioning itself beyond its traditional role as a scholarship agency to become a broader driver of national economic capacity through human-capital development, research, institutional strengthening and partnerships with industry.
He said the Fund had trained thousands of Nigerian engineers, geoscientists, researchers and technicians through scholarships, research grants, institutional development and strategic partnerships.
The PTDF boss said the agency was also working with universities and technical colleges to modernise curricula and equip students with skills relevant to the emerging energy landscape.
These areas, he said, include solar technology integration, hydrogen development, energy economics, carbon capture and digital grid management.
The Fund is also strengthening partnerships with international universities, local industries and clean-energy developers to give Nigerian scholars greater practical exposure.
Aliyu said PTDF was committed to equipping Nigerian universities with modern laboratories and research infrastructure that could transform them into regional centres of innovation.
He identified the Fund’s two flagship institutions as important components of the strategy.
According to him, the Port Harcourt centre focuses on vocational and technical training for technicians, artisans and craftsmen across the upstream, midstream and downstream segments of the industry, while the Kaduna institution provides postgraduate education, advanced research and a Split-Site PhD Programme through partnerships with universities in the United Kingdom.
The Port Harcourt centre also provides internationally recognised certifications in areas including welding, underwater welding, fabrication, instrumentation and offshore safety. “We want to assure Nigerians that PTDF is determined to train thousands of these artisans and mid-level manpower, which will reduce capital flight and unemployment among our teeming youth,” Aliyu said.
He added that the Fund’s long-term ambition was to develop professionals who could be trained and employed in Nigeria and eventually compete for opportunities across Africa’s energy industry.
PENGASSAN President, Festus Osifo, said collaboration among government, regulators, operators and labour was critical to achieving stability and sustainable growth in the oil and gas sector.
He said no stakeholder could transform the industry alone, arguing that government needed operators, operators needed skilled workers, while workers depended on government and industry for employment, training and retraining opportunities. “There must be collaboration amongst everyone for us to be able to move the industry from where it is today to a greater height,” Osifo said.
He cited the divestment of oil and gas assets by international oil companies as an example of how cooperation among stakeholders could protect workers and maintain stability during major industry changes.
According to Osifo, PENGASSAN initially feared that the divestment process could lead to significant job losses. However, the union worked with former leaders, the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission and other stakeholders to develop safeguards for workers.
The framework included agreements involving divesting companies, acquiring companies and PENGASSAN, as well as certification by the Ministry of Labour and Employment.
He said acquiring companies were required to protect workers’ jobs and maintain or improve their remuneration and welfare packages before transactions were concluded.
The framework, he added, ensured that no PENGASSAN member lost their job during the major divestment phase between 2021 and 2025.
Collective bargaining agreements were also transferred to acquiring companies from the first day of takeover, while workers’ remuneration and welfare packages were improved in some cases.
Osifo, however, cautioned against automatically attributing subsequent redundancies in some companies to divestment, noting that businesses could restructure their operations for several reasons.
