Uche Achinanya is an energy consultant with over 20 years of professional experience in delivering business improvement and training in the energy sector. He has played leading and critical roles in major oil and gas projects locally and internationally. He has a global mindset, and awareness of diverse cultural nuances which he gained through a unique global work background across North America, Middle East, and Africa. In this interview with Ibiba DonPedro, Uche Achinanya discusses the ongoing surge of emigration of young Nigerian professionals and its potential impact on the Nigerian energy sector.
We have witnessed a considerable movement of young professionals in many fields including the oil and gas sector in Nigeria, to the US, Canada, the Middle East and other energy hubs in recent Years. What propels this movement?
The search for higher education, new employment opportunities, better livelihood and desire to live in a society with increased level of certainty related to political stability and security ranks the top reasons for the sudden surge in emigration of Nigerians in the last 5 years. It is estimated that the proportion of youth planning to leave Nigeria permanently increased from 36% in 2014 to 52% in 2018. Post Covid-19 pandemic years has seen even a further surge in Nigerians leaving the country because of increased need to fill labor shortages in some of the desired destination countries. These needs hence focus on attracting educated and often highly skilled professionals. Nigerian emigration to the West appears to be highly selective of the educated, skilled professionals. Migration can have a range of social, cultural, political, and economic effects. It involves transfer of know-how and skills, financial assets, and the transfer of people from one location to another. Not surprising, the Nigerian energy sector has been impacted by what has been referred to by some authors as a ‘brain-drain’ in Nigeria. This sector has traditionally attracted the best and brightest graduates in Nigeria due to their perceived higher wages and good work environment.
What can be done to reduce the loss of expatriate in Nigeria?
Well, we need to understand what the key drivers of emigration are for these population. These population are relatively economically comfortable and represent the middle class in the country based on the high wages in the oil and gas sector, and their many years of employment. In my view, while increased employment opportunities with higher economy benefit outside the shore of Nigeria may be a factor, increased cases of insecurity in Nigeria and poor infrastructure tend to be the leading factors. Ownership hence falls on the political class to improve infrastructure and security to make these experts stay.
What impact do you foresee emigration will have in the Oil and Gas sector in Nigeria in the short and medium terms?
With the continuous and increasing emigration of Nigerian experts in the oil and gas industry, the industry may suffer a significant loss of highly skilled technical and management expertise which will limit investment in technical complex explorations in the onshore and offshore oilfields. I am particularly concerned about the onshore fields at this time as our local content expertise are highly needed in these fields due to some security concerns associated with having foreign expertise work in these fields. Most exploration contracts in the Onshore are offered to locally owned companies with Nigerian experts hence benefit from technical knowledge and expertise of these highly skilled individuals who are emigrating out of Nigeria.
Luckily for the Nigerian oil sector, it is blessed with a significant pool of Nigerian skilled professionals available to replace the loss of talents. However, with aging population of these skilled individuals, the impact will becoming increasingly significant. Again, considering that a significant number of members of the middle class are moving out, continuous emigration will have an overall impact on the social economical state of the Nigeria – a situation where the gap between the rich and poor is largely widened
What will be your advice to the Nigerian Energy sector employers to maintain a good pool of its talented population?
One way to maintain good pool of talented population is through a robust training and succession pipeline. Training and focused mentorship programs will guarantee that needed skill set are effectively transferred to younger local populations and help maintain the pool over time in the face of unavoidable problems associated with emigration.
The challenge I see here, particularly as it relates to a structured mentorship is that emigration often happens suddenly to provide good time for a comprehensive transfer of knowledge. What this means is that we will continually loose some details consistently over time. Overall impact on expertise loss may alarmingly be huge in a system where the education sector is under pressure due to often Union strike-action following disagreements with government
Energy sector can also support the local education sector in specialized learning areas associated with Oil and gas exploration. One way education sector can help is to introduce training and study areas that directly prepare students to undertake specialized project in oil and gas exploration such as petrophysics and reservoir modelling. The field of petrophysics and reservoir modelling is part of the many institutions’ course work for undergraduate and graduate students in countries like India and Pakistan, guaranteeing continuous pool of these skills.
What have been your direct experience with training and mentoring young energy professionals?
Through my 20+ years career, I have been deeply involved in training and mentoring of oilfield professionals particularly in the upstream exploration sector. Part of my early career was as an Oilfield training instructor. In this role, I developed training curriculum and delivered structured training to over 300 oilfield engineers and geoscientists in a wide range of areas – from drilling, measurements, data interpretation to modern evaluation techniques to ensure safe production of hydrocarbon. I have trained and continued till this day in training and mentoring a significant number of young Nigerian energy professionals. This is a passion for me and a way of giving back to the society.
How do you see the future of the energy sector in Nigeria?
I see a very bright future – as strange as this may sound. What I expect to happen is that Nigeria will progressively mature in its politics leading to a more stable governance and rejuvenation of infrastructure and social amenities. I expect institutions to be empowered leading to improved security and respect of individual rights. These progresses will lead to a Nigerian society that is progressively closing the socio-economic gap with the Western countries. I believe Nigerians in the diaspora love their country and would love to come back to a place they still call home. The return of some Nigerians in diaspora will further strengthen the return of enhanced skillsets into Nigeria. Energy sector will continue to attract a significant amount of these talents as Nigeria’s economy continuous to be heavily dependent on the energy sector for its
