The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited has raised the alarm over Nigeria’s widening energy workforce and technical skills gap, warning that the country risks losing control of its energy future if urgent steps are not taken to close the gap.
The Chief Human Resources Officer, NNPC Limited, Kazachiyang Nuhu, said the convergence of the Petroleum Industry Act, the Decade of Gas, rising participation by local operators and the global energy transition were creating a demand for technical talent that the industry was struggling to develop fast enough.
Nuhu spoke Thursday at the Oil and Gas Trainers Association of Nigeria HCD Conference and Expo in Warri, Delta State.
In a presentation at the OGTAN conference, Nuhu maintained that the changing energy landscape, driven by policy, market shifts, technology and changing expectations of younger workers, had created a technical talent demand that Nigeria could not afford to ignore.
He said artificial intelligence, digitalisation and automation were compressing skill cycles, while capital was increasingly moving towards liquefied natural gas, cleaner molecules and low-carbon opportunities.
