Critical Evaluation of Sustainable Local Content Policy in Nigeria Oil and Gas Sector

Abstract

Abstract A study of the role of sustainable local content policy in human capacity development in Nigeria’s oil and gas industry – case for the Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF, the Fund) was carried out to find solutions to three fundamental questions: "to what extent has PTDF contributed towards achieving human capacity development in Nigeria" "to what extent has PTDF intervention impacted the oil and gas industry in the last ten years in Nigeria" and "how sustainable is local content policy under the present PTDF mandate in Nigeria". This research was predicated on the skills gap audit report (2018 – 2023) of the Fund as a baseline study while leveraging on the secondary data sets of the PTDF trio-capacity development strategies from 2011 – 2021. The research was formulated on both descriptive and analytical statistics methods based on the industry need assessment. A comparative analysis of the Skills Gap Audits (SGA) and Secondary Data Sets (SDS) was carried out using arithmetic mean and deviation from the assumed mean of the unclassified data. The results established that more key performance indicators were captured in the SDS (mean of 23.04 and deviation of 0.4) against the imputed values in the SGA (mean 4.52 and deviation of 0.5 respectively). The implication therefore is that PTDF has contributed more significantly in human capacity development programmes than indicated in the SGA report. However, challenging indicators could be turned into opportunities if the extant law is amended to broaden the frontiers of investment-divestment strategies through public-private partnership for sustainable local content policy of the Fund. This research is useful for policy formulation and decision-making on local content in Nigeria.