The Oil and Gas Trainers Association of Nigeria (OGTAN) has unveiled an eight-pillar Human Capacity Development (HCD) Manifesto designed to move Nigeria’s oil and gas training ecosystem beyond conference declarations towards measurable improvements in workforce competence, productivity and industry performance.

The Manifesto was signed at the closing plenary of the OGTAN HCD Conference and Expo 2026 in Warri, Delta State, with regulators, oil and gas operators, training providers and academic institutions committing to specific actions aimed at addressing Nigeria’s skills gap.

OGTAN President, Chris Osarunmwense, said the decision to adopt a formal Manifesto rather than a conventional conference communiqué was deliberate.

He said the industry could no longer afford conferences that generated extensive discussions without clear mechanisms for implementation and accountability.

“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,” Osarunmwense said.

According to him, the Manifesto provides a roadmap for accelerating human capital development and ensuring that companies operating in Nigeria have workers with the knowledge, technical skills and attitudes required to meet evolving business and industry demands.

OGTAN targets measurable HCD outcomes

Osarunmwense said the Manifesto represents a collective commitment by stakeholders who participated in the conference’s panel discussions and keynote sessions.

He said human capital development must evolve from a compliance-driven activity focused primarily on training numbers to a system capable of producing measurable competence, productivity and business outcomes.

The shift is increasingly important as the industry responds to digitisation, artificial intelligence, automation, cybersecurity, gas development and the global energy transition.

The eight pillars of the Manifesto cover regulatory compliance, industry skills identification, technical skills gaps, energy transition and gas readiness, trainer certification, HCD funding, indigenous training capacity, and youth and community inclusion.

1. Align training with regulatory and industry requirements

Under the first pillar, stakeholders committed to strengthening compliance with the Petroleum Industry Act 2021 and the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development Act.

The Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board will continue supporting Nigerian content development and indigenous participation, while operators committed to treating HCD as a strategic element of business execution rather than simply a regulatory requirement.

OGTAN, meanwhile, committed to strengthening compliance with training standards through grading and independent audits of training providers.

2. Identify the skills industry actually needs

The second pillar seeks to address a major weakness in the existing HCD system: insufficient clarity about the skills and competencies required by employers.

Regulators committed to working with industry to improve visibility of current and future workforce requirements.

Operators, led by the Oil Producers Trade Section, will formally communicate the skills and competencies they require, including positions potentially affected by automation.

OPTS also committed to formalising collaboration with OGTAN through a Memorandum of Understanding.

Training providers will be expected to develop programmes based on structured skills-identification processes rather than generic training curricula.

Osarunmwense said better demand signals were essential because training providers without clear information about industry requirements were effectively “throwing a stone in the dark and hoping you’ll hit the target.”

3. Close Nigeria’s technical skills and knowledge gaps

The third pillar focuses on developing a national pathway for addressing critical technical skills shortages.

Operators committed to identifying critical competencies vulnerable to workforce exits, particularly as experienced professionals retire or leave the industry.

The Manifesto also recognises the risk of losing institutional knowledge as experienced workers depart without adequate systems for transferring their expertise to younger professionals.

Osarunmwense described the sector as experiencing “a huge outflow of experienced professionals” and said critical institutional knowledge must be documented before it is lost.

Training providers, meanwhile, committed to measuring demonstrated competence rather than simply counting the number of people who have undergone training.

4. Prepare workers for gas and the energy transition

Energy transition and gas readiness constitute the fourth pillar.

The Manifesto calls for workforce development across four broad areas: technical, digital, commercial and human capabilities.

Technical skills will include renewable energy, gas-to-power and methane management, while digital capabilities will encompass artificial intelligence and other emerging digital tools.

Commercial skills will cover areas such as energy economics, carbon markets and ESG reporting, while human capabilities will include adaptive leadership and systems thinking.

The pillar also addresses the rapid expansion of Nigeria’s CNG infrastructure, which the conference said is growing from roughly seven to 350 refuelling centres nationwide.

Stakeholders committed to developing the workforce required to support that expansion.

5. Professionalise training and trainer standards

The fifth pillar focuses on trainer standards, certification and the Accredited Training Service Provider framework.

OGTAN committed to introducing a formal training-of-trainers programme within a defined timeframe.

The framework will include grading, third-party audits and systems for keeping trainers current with changing industry technologies, standards and operating practices.

The objective is to ensure that training providers themselves remain equipped to deliver industry-relevant programmes as technology and workforce requirements evolve.

6. Reform HCD funding through co-investment

The sixth pillar addresses the financing of human capital development.

Osarunmwense said the Federal Government had committed to prioritising the proper utilisation of HCD funding for the remainder of the current ministerial tenure.

The Manifesto also proposes a co-investment approach involving government, industry, academia and technology partners.

It recognises oil and gas operators as the industry’s largest existing HCD funders while seeking greater coordination of available resources.

A proposal to identify 50 African training organisations for targeted support remains subject to formal adoption by OGTAN.

7. Build globally competitive Nigerian training capacity

The seventh pillar seeks to strengthen indigenous training providers and enable Nigerian organisations to deliver training that meets international standards.

Regulators and operators committed to supporting the development of local training capacity, potentially reducing dependence on external providers while increasing Nigeria’s ability to export skills and training services.

The initiative aligns with the broader objective of deepening Nigerian participation in the oil and gas industry’s technical and professional value chain.

8. Expand opportunities for young professionals and host communities

The eighth pillar focuses on young professionals, host communities and inclusion.

It provides for stronger apprenticeships, graduate development programmes, mentorship and more inclusive participation in HCD initiatives.

The objective is to create clearer pathways into the industry for young Nigerians while ensuring that communities hosting oil and gas operations are not excluded from opportunities created by the sector.

OGTAN creates Training Managers Forum

Beyond the eight-pillar Manifesto, OGTAN announced plans to establish a Training Managers Forum that will bring training managers from upstream oil and gas companies together on a quarterly basis.

The proposed forum is intended to shift HCD discussions from individual company initiatives to an industry-wide approach to workforce planning and development.

“We are at the stage of looking at HCD not just from a company perspective, but as a whole, from an industry perspective,” Osarunmwense said.

The forum was initially planned for launch during the conference but will now be finalised after the event.

Accountability becomes the key test

The distinguishing feature of the Manifesto is its emphasis on implementation.

OGTAN said each commitment is expected to have a responsible actor, measurable output, timeframe and verification mechanism, with progress to be reviewed periodically through the association’s HCD governance framework.

That accountability architecture could determine whether the initiative succeeds where previous industry declarations have struggled.

For Nigeria’s oil and gas industry, the stakes are considerable. As investment patterns change, experienced professionals exit the workforce and emerging technologies reshape traditional jobs, the country’s competitiveness will increasingly depend not simply on the volume of training delivered, but on whether training produces workers capable of meeting measurable technical and commercial requirements.

The OGTAN Manifesto therefore seeks to make human capital development an operational and economic priority—linking training investment directly to competence, productivity, indigenous capacity and the industry’s long-term competitiveness.