The Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF) has urged International Oil Companies (IOCs) to key into the Federal Government’s capacity development programme in Nigeria’s oil and gas sector.

The Executive Secretary of PTDF, Dr Oluwole Oluleye, made the call at the ongoing Nigeria Oil and Gas Conference in Abuja on Thursday.

The paper was entitled; “Developing Human Capacity to enable Full Nigerian Content Implementation’’.

Oluleye explained that the PTDF was the agency of government charged with the responsibility of developing human capacities in the Nigerian oil and gas industry.

“We have been efficiently doing that but this will be more effective if other industry players collaborate with us,” he said.

He noted that PTDF had trained a lot of Nigerians that needed to be engaged by the industry, and stressed the need for the IOCs to key into the efforts of the agency in capacity development.

According to him, there is also the need for stakeholders to absorb and integrate those trained into the workforce.

“If we keep building capacity that is not engaged in the industry, particularly in the Niger Delta region, we will continue to face the problem of youth restiveness in host communities resulting in revenue losses.’’

He said that a database of all PTDF scholars, including their areas of specialisations, was being put together for delivery to the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board.

This, Oluleye said, was for the purpose of facilitating their engagement by international oil companies.

He said PTDF had committed huge investments in upgrading and developing oil and gas-related institutions in the country in its bid to address the challenges of Human Capital Development in the sector.

He said, PTDF being a member of the Post Amnesty Rehabilitation Committee, had introduced specialised training programmes, adding that hundreds of youths were currently pursuing undergraduate studies in Malaysia, China and Norway.

According to him, others are undergoing vocational training such as helicopter piloting and air surveillance in South Africa.

The aim, he said, was to develop their intellectual base and technical capabilities by attracting international certifications after their training in order to be accepted globally. (NAN)

Source: Leadership Newspaper