Human capital deficiency in oil, mining sectors portends danger – Experts

Stakeholders in the mining, geoscience, and oil sectors have described the human capital deficiency in the industry as an epidemic that poses a great danger to the country.

They said the epidemic must be addressed.

The stakeholders included the President of the Nigerian Mining and Geosciences Society (NMGS), Prof. Akinade Olatunji; the Chairman of AA Holdings, Mr. Austin Avuru; the Vice Chairman of the Board, ND Western Limited, Dr. Layi Fatona; the Director of Institute of Maritime Studies, University of Lagos, Prof. Abiodun Mary Odunkoya, Prof. Gbenga Okunola of the Geology Department, University of Ibadan and others.

They stated this during the NMGS /ND Western/ Layi Fatona annual lecture series which was held at the Professor M.Oyawoye Library Complex, University of Ibadan, Ibadan. The programme had the theme: ‘Emerging Crisis of Human Capital Development in the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry’.

The event attracted many stakeholders in the sector, including Prof. Idowu Olayinka and others.

Avuru, who was the speaker at the event, said without addressing the challenge, there would be trouble in the economy

He said: “Without human capital, there will be no industry and therefore if our industries have to thrive if businesses have to thrive, if our economy has to thrive, we have to solve the problem of human capital deficiency in the oil and gas sector”.

On his part, the NMGS President, Prof. Olatunji said the nation needed to look for ways of reversing the trend of human capital deficiency.

Olatunji said: “This is the opportunity to have a rethink, and have a holistic look at what is happening in the oil sector. We need to have the necessary pool of expertise that will continue to feed the industry. It is about time to build a policy.

“The deficiency of human capital means danger for the country. We just believe that the recommendations presented by the speaker will remedy such deficiency and ensure that the future is bright.”

In his remarks, the Vice chairman of the Board, ND Western Limited, Fatona, said the focus was to draw national attention to the scourge of human capital deficiency that is eating rapidly into the fabric of the country.

Prof. Odukoya, the Director of Institute of Maritime Studies, University of Lagos, said: “As you know that oil and gas is a very important sector, and Nigeria for now is still a mono-economic dependent nation.

“We need to have the group of people that will man it. There’s a big gap with the set of people we have now and the upcoming ones. So , in order to bridge that gap, we need to work on it and discuss it.”

On his part, Prof. Okunola said: “One of the takeaways is that capacity is important, if we don’t develop capacity there will be big problems.”

In his remarks, the UI VC, Prof. Kayode Adebowale, lamented that federal universities did not have the power to recruit staff that could help address the challenge.