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The Federal Government has pledged stronger support for the Oil and Gas Trainers Association of Nigeria to help build a world-class workforce for the country’s energy sector.

Speaking at the OGTAN Human Capital Development Conference and Expo in Warri, Delta State, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Oil), Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, stated that Nigeria is well-positioned to build a competitive workforce backed by growing investor confidence and incoming projects advancing toward Final Investment Decisions.

He noted that the upcoming major projects would require highly skilled professionals trained to international standards, largely delivered through OGTAN’s network of over 400 members.

“Those human beings are members of the public who must have been trained by OGTAN, who are expected to have the competence to deliver those projects, not just for Nigeria, but for the entire world,” Lokpobiri said.

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Lokpobiri observed that many educators across Nigerian tertiary institutions still rely on outdated materials that fail to reflect a modern, AI-driven industry, stressing the need to retrain instructors.

“If the training system underpinning that capital is still operating on a 50-year-old blueprint, the risk is that Nigeria’s newly de-risked capital arrives faster than its newly-promised workforce can be built,” he warned.

The minister affirmed that the Federal Government is addressing the skills gap through the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board and the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development Act in partnership with OGTAN.

“As government, what we do is see how we can support OGTAN members. The government is committed to this, and we are doing it through NCDMB and the NOGICD Act,” he stated.

Lokpobiri also urged OGTAN to expand its footprint across Africa, pointing out that countries like Angola, Congo, and Gabon rely on Nigerian-trained energy professionals.

“The rest of Africa is depending on human resources from Nigeria, and someone must be responsible for training that human capital, not just for Nigeria,” he added.