Peace Obi
The organisers of the Africa Oil and Gas Talent have called on human resources experts, manpower development organisations and stakeholders in Nigeria’s oil and gas industry to gear up more effort towards transforming available human resources into productive capital, especially as the innovative technologies and digitalisation permeate industry and its operations.
The third edition of the annual event which held recently in Lagos on a theme, “People as the Real Assets: Delivering Innovation and Growth in the “New Normal: of Global Oil and Gas”, saw a convergence of human resources experts, stakeholders in the Nigerian oil and gas industry, among others as various speakers reiterated the need for Nigerian oil and gas industry to keep abreast with emerging technology.
The Chairman, AOGS, Engr. Felix Amieyeofori told OER that Nigeria must rightly equip her human resources to face the changes going on around the world in politics, business, technology among others to take her rightful place in the comity of nations. He said, “Honestly, things have changed! Globally, looking at the energy sector, you will realise that oil is gradually being dropped for some newer energy solutions. People have been investing heavily in renewable. If you look at it again, the analogue system is gone and everything is now done on the Internet. For example, in the oil and gas industry, it is becoming clear that the industry is being taken over by digital technology.
“The question now is, how can we convert the workers to become digital oil and gas personnel? How can we convert the workers to become people that can fit into the current industry need and demand?”
Speaking further, Amieyeofori said that the summit aims to sensitise government and the private organizations on the global trends in technology. “It is a new phase, processes and operations of industries are changing, technology has come to cause a lot of positive disruption. We cannot keep following from behind, we need to find a way to be part of the new event that is taking place. So, the idea is not necessarily about repositioning human resources; it is to identify the resource in people and then transform them into productive capital.”
Speaking also, the Managing Consultant, Human Leadership Resources, Enife Atobiloye noted that Nigeria’s huge human resource must up-skilled for them to become assets.
“Technological advancement is placing new demand on the industry. The industry needs a workforce that can develop sub-skills that make people to readily succeed.
In the world of continuous changes, one of the skills for needed is adaptability. People have to be adaptable to change. This is not the time for people to sit down and say this is how we used to do things. No! people have to be able to stand up and move with the tide”
The event was hosted by an international media personality and corporate communications executive, Wofai Samuel.
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