It is common for employers to assert that most graduates in Nigeria are unemployable! The million dollar question remains: how can they be made employable? The general trend has been that of greater emphasis on “experienced” professionals and specialists, with little or no space for fresh graduates. This raises concerns about succession, mentorship and human capital development, especially considering that not necessarily the best candidates are usually recruited or granted scholarships. It is thus the intent of this paper to objectively assess the manpower, training, basic education and human resource issues that are critical to the Nigerian petroleum industry vis-a-vis the educational sector. This is particularly crucial and timely in the light of ongoing industry reforms in the country, capital flight occasioned by overdependence on imports and expatriates (even for routine jobs!), gross underutilisation of abundant and exceptional local human capacity, and the Federal Government’s local content drive. University-industry partnerships can be made effective and efficient through joint research projects, timely supply of precise data for research, and provision of research grants and monitoring of their judicious appropriation, among other approaches elaborated in the body of the work. Full advantage must be taken the industrial training scheme and modalities for task allocation strictly adhered to. Recruitment processes should be made transparent, putting square pegs in square holes. This done, many of the technical problems facing the industry would be addressed progressively.
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