Nigeria’s oil and gas industry faces a unique challenge. Despite over 250,000 available jobs, companies must continually apply for expatriate quotas to bring in foreign workers. This raises questions about the relevance of university courses to industry needs. Many Nigerian graduates focus on fields like library science, linguistics, sociology, philosophy, and political science, which may not align with the technical requirements of the oil and gas sector. As a result, companies like Chevron and Total often recruit non-graduates with technical skills from abroad, while Dangote’s $19.5 billion refinery reportedly imported 11,000 technicians from India due to a shortage of skilled Nigerian technicians. This highlights the importance of aligning education with industry demands.
