Meeting The Challenge Of Human Capital Development In The New Nigerian Power Industry (1)

By Idowu Oyebanjo

One of the myriads of problems bedevilling the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry is the dearth of knowledge of Power Systems in Nigeria and unfortunately worldwide. Having an efficient and reliable Power System requires dedication and hard work. To this end, there must be a clear focus on recruiting, training, and keeping the workforce for today and tomorrow. There is also the risk that developed countries will poach our Engineers once they have been trained, attracting them to say the least, with offers of citizenship in "greener pastures". Hence, a well articulated and constructive approach is required to ensure we meet this challenge and keep a sufficient level of expertise adequate for the survival of the Power Industry in Nigeria! How can this be done?

*Buhari

The foremost requirement is a regulation backed by law to ensure that various enablers are in place to support the deliberate development and optimal utilization of Nigerian human resources for the provision of  electricity services in the Power Industry. The emphasis should be on ensuring the active participation and growth of the Nigerian Industry and citizenry in the various services and activities that will be witnessed as Nigeria rebuilds her Power Network and Infrastructure. I say active here because lazy, selfish and myopic investors will partner technical companies from the developed economies who, for many good reasons, will prefer to carry out the actual design, fabrication, manufacturing and testing of equipment from their overseas offices and locations. This will create jobs and opportunities overseas and add little to our subject matter. With foot on the ground, business economics will prevail and within a reasonable period of time, so many companies will shift base to Nigeria to carry out these activities and more. Of course some balance is required here as the intention is not to stifle the development of the Power Industry and this is why those who understand the business of Electricity Generation, Transmission, Distribution and Supply are required to manage the process. In addition, there is need to track, monitor, review and measure the development of this objective at every stage. Statistical methods showing status quo ante and progress in the many areas is a must.

In view of the dearth of Knowledge of Power Systems in-country, the new owners of the Nigerian Power Assets, their technical consultants and Nigerian Professionals home and abroad should be asked to submit a list of the activities that they believe would be carried out in the short and long-term in the Power Industry. They should equally state those activities they would be more likely to provide services for pre-qualification and assessment of their capabilities or otherwise, to acceptable international standards. This should form a database akin to the Joint Qualification System (JQS) in use in the Oil and Gas Industry. The Nigerian Content Division of NNPC could be approached for help in this area.