The pioneer Chief Executive Officer of Seplat Petroleum Development Company and Chairman of AA Holdings, Augustine Avuru, has lamented that the current divestment of assets by international oil companies (IOCs) being experienced in Nigeria is creating manpower gaps that may lead to “collapse” of the country’s oil and gas industry.
Avuru said this recently at the Federal University of Petroleum Resources, Effurun (FUPRE) 15th anniversary lecture.
He described the situation as a “big problem” and a “national emergency,” and therefore called on universities, particularly FUPRE, to develop and implement programmes to close training gaps in the sector.
He said, “You should have a way of pitching your programmes and convincing the industry that this is where we should come to look for specialized training and Research and Development (R&D). This may take 15 years to get the vision. Start the process of a new thinking because there is a gap for us to fill.”
Avuru who spoke on ‘Expanding the Frontier of Petroleum Education through Stakeholders’ Participation,’ said that the university was “in a very wealthy industry that is hungry for training and research” because with the exit of IOCs, gone will be the “elaborate training arrangements and R&D support” they provided their staff.
According to him, “These divestments have created in the last decade, a large pool of Nigerian independents, many of whom were quickly patched together by assembling the available professionals that had been well trained by the IOCs.
“These independents neither have the capacity, nor in fact, any real plan to replicate the training schemes the IOCs had. As this workforce ages into retirement, a gaping manpower hole is being created.
“With the exit of IOCs, FUPRE has to become the one-stop institution for tertiary and post-tertiary specialized training for the oil and gas industry and, in fact, the energy industry in future.”
He also appealed to FUPRE to streamline, rather than expand its departments to meet needs of the sector, upgrade its research capabilities, and work with key players, such as Oil Producers Trade Section (OPTS) and Independent Petroleum Producers Group to produce professionals.
He regretted that tertiary institutions were not producing people to lift the economy, which according to him, is already strangulated by the government.
He said that “Indigenous companies set up quickly because they benefited from the trained staff that came out of IOCs. As they age and retire, it’s a problem. If solutions are not back to where I described, this industry will collapse.
“Thirty years ago we were doing 2.6 million barrels per day. In February, we did 1.3 million barrels. This industry is on the verge of collapse. If you can’t train human resources, we don’t have R&D to be filled into indigenous companies that are taking over from IOCs, we cannot replicate the production that we had 30 years ago.
“I’m asking you to redirect your thinking so that you can be part of the solution to the national problem. What we are talking about is a change of concept to save this country from imminent catastrophe.”
Earlier, the Vice Chancellor of FUPRE, Professor Akpofure Rim-Rukeh, who recalled how academic activities started in the early years, promised that such steps would ensure the participation of industry stakeholders in terms of Research & Development funding, as the graduates would be relevant to their business.
Prof. Rim-Rukeh extolled pioneer employees, ex-Minister of State for Education Chief Kenneth Gbagi, among others, for their commitment and determination to see the school stand.
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