Oando, Partners Train Youths, Target Next Generation Oil, Gas Workforce

Oando Energy Resources Nigeria Limited (OERNL), in partnership with the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) and Hilong Oil Service & Engineering Nigeria Limited, has launched a 12-month drilling engineering training programme aimed at building the next generation of Nigeria’s oil and gas workforce.

The initiative, which commenced on September 4, 2026, in Port Harcourt, is designed to address the technical skills gap that stakeholders say threatens Nigeria’s ability to fully capitalise on the transfer of assets from international oil companies to indigenous operators.

From classroom to rig

According to Oando, the programme targets a critical weakness in Nigeria’s energy workforce pipeline: the inability of many graduates to translate theoretical knowledge into competence in real operational environments. [statement]

Over 12 months, participants will move from intensive classroom learning to structured on-the-job training, with modules covering Basic Drilling Engineering Operations, Well Planning and Design, Measurement While Drilling (MWD), Logging While Drilling (LWD), drilling rig operations and well-log data analytics.

The training is linked to the Provision of Turnkey Joint Venture (JV) Services for Workover and Recompletion of the Obiafu 44 Well, giving participants direct exposure to live industry operations.

Beyond technical skills, participants will receive training in entrepreneurship, business management and digital skills, broadening their ability to create and participate in opportunities across the energy value chain.

The Nigerian government’s approach to local participation recognises that capacity building must go hand in hand with creating opportunities for host communities.

According to Oando, the objective is not only to develop energy professionals capable of eventually leading complex operations and to retain critical knowledge within the industry, but also to ensure that communities around these assets are positioned to benefit from the economic opportunities they generate. [statement]

By prioritising participants from host communities, the programme seeks to ensure that the economic benefits of oil and gas operations are more widely shared and that local residents are better positioned to access higher-skilled, higher-paying roles in the sector. [statement]

Securing Nigeria’s technical future

For Oando, the investment comes at a particularly important point in the evolution of Nigeria’s energy sector, as indigenous companies take on larger operational roles and experienced professionals begin to exit the workforce.

The company stated that building a sustainable talent pipeline is increasingly critical, making deliberate knowledge transfer and succession planning crucial to preserving and expanding Nigeria’s technical capability.

Manager, Nigerian Content Division, Oando Energy Resources Nigeria Limited, Deji Agboola, told participants: “Oando, NCDMB, and Hilong have given you an opportunity of a lifetime, to play a role in the development of Nigeria. Being here equips you with the capacity to contribute meaningfully to the future of the oil and gas industry, as well as the country.”

Representing the executive secretary of NCDMB, Engr. Felix Omatsola Ogbe, the Board’s general manager, Human Capacity Development, Alexis Emelle, described the programme as an investment not only in its participants but in the future of Nigeria’s oil and gas industry.

“That future will ultimately depend on how deliberately the industry prepares people for it,” Emelle said.