Alarmed by the widening shortage of industry-ready geoscientists and petroleum engineers, the Nigerian Association of Petroleum Explorationists (NAPE) has unveiled plans to establish a tuition-free academy to bridge the gap between university education and the technical skills required by the country’s upstream oil and gas industry.

Unlike conventional graduate trainee schemes run by individual operators, the proposed NAPE Academy is designed as an industry-wide institution that will train graduates through an intensive programme jointly delivered by academia and experienced industry professionals before deploying them for mandatory internships with oil and gas companies.

The association said the academy, expected to commence within the next two years, would require an initial funding of about $2 million, while students would pay no tuition fees and would also receive free accommodation and feeding throughout the programme.

The proposed academy will focus on geosciences, petroleum engineering, artificial intelligence, data analytics and other emerging technologies considered critical to developing the next generation of professionals needed to sustain Nigeria’s oil and gas industry.

Speaking at the NAPE Academy Establishment Workshop in Lagos yesterday, Chairman of the NAPE Academy Committee, Nedo Osayande, said the initiative was conceived as a long-term solution to Nigeria’s growing shortage of technically competent subsurface professionals.

According to him, the academy builds on the successes of Shell’s former Intensive Training Programme (SITP), which produced generations of petroleum professionals before it was discontinued due to funding constraints.

“This time around, we want something that is not owned by one company, not sponsored by one company, but something that will encompass the entire industry,” Osayande said.

He explained that bringing operators, service companies, regulators and academic institutions under one training platform would reduce costs, enrich curriculum development and ensure graduates acquire the practical competencies employers require.

Under the proposed model, each course will be taught jointly by an academic with industry experience and an industry practitioner with strong academic grounding, while students will spend between three and six months undergoing internships before graduation.

NAPE President, Olajumoke Cecilia Ajayi, described the proposed academy as a strategic intervention aimed at securing the future of Nigeria’s petroleum industry rather than a project tied to the tenure of the association’s current leadership.

She said the academy was designed to complement ongoing efforts to review university curricula by providing graduates with practical industry training before they enter the workforce.

According to her, companies currently spend significant resources running separate graduate trainee programmes because universities are not producing enough industry-ready professionals.
She expressed confidence that once operational, the academy would provide a central pool of trained professionals from which operators could recruit directly.

“Many companies today run their own graduate training programmes because they have no choice. We are taking that burden away by creating one structured academy where companies can recruit graduates that are already trained and industry-ready,” Ajayi said.

She added that the number of students admitted annually would depend on the level of financial commitments secured from industry stakeholders, noting that the association was prepared to begin with a modest intake if necessary.
Also speaking, Director of Subsurface Development at the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), Emmanuel Mac Jaja, described the initiative as timely, saying Nigeria’s upstream sector continues to face a significant disconnect between classroom knowledge and practical industry competence.

He said the academy would bring together government, academia and industry under a “triple helix” model to produce professionals with both theoretical knowledge and practical field experience.

Mac Jaja said the commission would support the initiative through access to technical data, collaboration with industry players and policies that encourage technology adoption and capacity development.

He added that strengthening technical manpower would complement ongoing regulatory efforts to increase crude oil production, boost reserves and improve the competitiveness of Nigeria’s upstream petroleum sector.