The Oil and Gas Trainers Association of Nigeria (OGTAN) has signed a formal Manifesto committing regulators, operators, training providers and academia to measurable, time-bound actions to address Nigeria’s oil and gas human capital gap.
Chris Osarunmwense, President of OGTAN, disclosed this while presenting the Manifesto at the closing plenary and signing ceremony of the OGTAN Human Capacity Development (HCD) Conference 2026 in Warri, Delta State, on Friday.

Osarunmwense said the decision to produce a binding Manifesto, rather than a conventional communiqué, was driven by the industry’s frustration with conferences that generate discussions without corresponding follow-through.
“Rather than turning this conference into another regular talk shop — one of these jamborees where we just tick the boxes — we decided to make this different,” he said.

“We are producing a set of concrete actions, a roadmap that defines how we can accelerate human capital development within the oil and gas industry, such that companies operating within it have people who are prepared and ready to meet the challenges of their business, in terms of having the requisite knowledge, skills and the right attitude.”
He said the Manifesto represents “a collective pledge” from stakeholders who participated in the conference’s panel sessions and keynotes.

Osarunmwense said human capital development “must move beyond compliance and training activity to measurable competence, performance, productivity, and industry outcomes” as the industry undergoes rapid changes driven by digitisation, artificial intelligence, automation, cybersecurity, gas development and the energy transition.
The Manifesto contains eight pillars of action. Under the first pillar, covering regulatory compliance under the Petroleum Industry Act 2021 and the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development (NOGICD) Act, the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) committed to continuing its support for Nigerian content development and indigenous participation.

Operators committed to treating HCD as a strategic component of business execution rather than solely as a compliance requirement, while OGTAN committed to strengthening compliance with training standards through grading and independent audits.
The second pillar focuses on identifying the skills and competencies required by the industry.

Regulators committed to working with industry to establish clearer visibility of required workforce competencies, which Osarunmwense said was necessary to guide training providers.
Without such visibility, he said, training providers were often left “throwing a stone in the dark and hoping you’ll hit the target.”

Operators, led by the Oil Producers Trade Section (OPTS), committed to formally communicating the specific skills and competencies required by the industry, including roles at risk from automation, while formalising collaboration with OGTAN through a Memorandum of Understanding.
Training providers, in turn, committed to designing programmes based on “a structured and scientific skills-identification process” rather than generic curricula.

The third pillar addresses the technical skills gap through a national skills-gap pathway.
Operators committed to identifying critical skills exposed to workforce exits, while stakeholders also addressed the loss of institutional knowledge as experienced professionals leave the sector.

Osarunmwense said the industry was experiencing “a huge outflow of experienced professionals” without adequate systems for capturing their expertise, adding that stakeholders had committed to documenting critical knowledge ahead of their departure.
Training providers committed to measuring demonstrated competency rather than training activity alone.

The fourth pillar focuses on energy transition and gas readiness, with operators committing to preparing workers across technical, digital, commercial and human frontiers.
These include renewables, gas-to-power and methane management; artificial intelligence and digital tools; energy economics, carbon markets and ESG reporting; as well as adaptive leadership and systems thinking.

The pillar also covers Nigeria’s expansion of CNG infrastructure from roughly seven to 350 refuelling centres nationwide, with stakeholders committing to building the capacity required to support the growth.
The fifth pillar focuses on trainer standards, certification and the Accredited Training Service Provider (ATSP) framework.

OGTAN committed to rolling out a formal training-of-trainers programme within a defined timeframe, alongside grading, third-party audits and trainer currency systems to keep members updated on evolving industry practices and technology.
On funding and co-investment under the sixth pillar, Osarunmwense said the Federal Government committed to prioritising the proper utilisation of HCD funding for the remainder of the current ministerial tenure.

The Manifesto also promotes a co-investment model involving government, industry, academia and technology partners, while recognising operators as the industry’s most significant existing HCD funders.
A proposal to identify 50 African training entities for targeted support remains subject to formal OGTAN adoption.

The seventh pillar commits regulators and operators to strengthening indigenous Nigerian training capacity and enabling local trainers to meet international standards.
The final pillar focuses on young professionals, host communities and inclusion through apprenticeships, graduate development, mentorship and inclusive HCD participation for host communities.

Osarunmwense also announced that OGTAN would lead a new Training Managers Forum, bringing training managers from upstream companies together quarterly to coordinate HCD issues across the industry.
“We are at the stage of looking at HCD not just from a company perspective, but as a whole, from an industry perspective,” he said.

He said the forum, which was initially planned for launch during the conference, would now be finalised afterwards because “the process did not go as smoothly as we would have loved.”
Osarunmwense stressed that accountability was built into the Manifesto, with each commitment assigned a responsible actor, measurable output, timeframe and verification route.

He said implementation would be reviewed periodically through OGTAN’s HCD governance mechanism.