The Chief Executive of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), Mrs Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan, has decried Nigeria’s loss of billions of dollars in oil and gas investment over the past decade, saying the decline weakened the country’s pool of skilled professionals required to drive growth in the sector.
Eyesan, who spoke at the inaugural Human Capital Development (HCD) Conference and Expo 2026 organised by the Oil and Gas Trainers Association of Nigeria (OGTAN) in Warri, Delta State, said Nigeria attracted as much as $26 billion in oil and gas investment in 2014, but the figure had declined to about $2 billion annually by 2023.
She said the prolonged investment decline had resulted in the loss of critical technical skills, particularly in exploration and subsurface disciplines, as companies scaled back activities and focused largely on maintaining existing assets.
“In that period, the first that we lost were the geoscientists. So, once the budget cuts started, there was no more exploration so the geoscientists had to be offloaded.
“Then some petroleum engineers became casualties because for operators, it was no longer about drilling new wells but it was survival mode; just maintenance and what have you. Our infrastructure was heavily derated because we were not investing,” she said in a statement by NUPRC spokesman, Eniola Akinkuotu.
Eyesan said with Nigeria now seeking to attract fresh investment into the upstream sector, the country must rebuild its technical workforce and develop the competencies needed to support increased activity.
“Today we are attracting new investments and so we want to see an upward trajectory. It stands to reason that you must go back to the basics. First of all, we need the right competencies in sub-surface,” she said.