The Oil and Gas Trainers Association of Nigeria (OGTAN) last week suggested that all training programmes for workers in the oil and gas sector should be done locally.
Dr Mayowa Afe, President, OGTAN, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos that training of workers outside the country had never benefited the sector.
According to him, such trainings have often led to brain drain and loss of foreign exchange.
Afe said that training programmed in the sector should focus on issues that were peculiar to the Nigerian environment.
“The government should discourage portfolio trainers, that is, people who just walk into companies to organize trainings, invite trainers and after that, they walk away.
“The billions of dollars currently being spent by companies to train their employees outside the country should remain in the economy,” Afe said.
He said that a training programme, initiated by the Nigerian Local Content Board (NCDMB) and the association, would be for only members of the association.
He said that the training would not be for all workers in the oil and gas sector except those who registered with the association.
Afe said that the association had started a discussion with the board on ways to fast track the training programme.
NAN reports that funds for the programme will come from the one per cent deduction from all projects executed in the upstream sector.
The aim is to develop local content for the oil and gas sector and to create more job opportunities for Nigerians.
Afe said that OGTAN’s vision was to develop a Nigerian oil and gas training business group that would interface with the operators, international organizations and the government.
“Majority of oil and gas training should be done locally to address the issue of foreign exchange challenges.
“So, government agencies, institutions, international oil and gas companies should partner with OGTAN to create and save jobs for Nigerians in the sector,’’ he said
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