Several opinion polls in Nigeria suggest that the oil and gas industry and its service sector remain the choice of job seekers.

The polls also suggest that the industry is still the highest paying in the country followed closely by telecommunications and banking industries.

This situation has created a very stiff competition amongst Nigerians and also between expatriates who want to work in the oil and gas sector, no matter what it costs them, with a view to earning huge wages that the sector is synonymous with.

According to experts and professionals in the oil and gas industry, more than 15,000 vacant jobs and related openings exist at various levels and in different capacities amongst several oil and gas as well as oil-servicing companies operating in Nigeria and other parts of Africa.

Ordinarily, these are positions and vacancies that are supposed to be filled by Nigerians, who meet set criteria in the industry.

However, experts in the field say that for now, a lot of vacancies are lying unfilled in the multinationals and indigenous oil companies as a result of lack of spe...ed certification and prerequisite training and exposure by Nigerians.

According to Managing Director, Backlang Technical Training Company, Dr. Chudi Egbunike, “In the oil and gas industry, certification and international trainings for spe...ation are required, since most of the openings or vacancies in the oil and gas or even its service sector are spe...ed and require professional exposure and trainings that are unavailable in the country.

“The implication of these deficiencies in knowledge, training and exposure, is that ordinary non-graduates foreigners, including technicians from far away places like India, China, the Philippines Lebanon and the likes, have taken over these positions; and they are then referred to as expatriates.

“Alongside that, they get paid special salaries and wages in hard currencies that will make the average Nigerian go green with envy.

“The opportunities for taking over these positions by these expatriates are there because these foreigners, in their home countries, have access to the spe...ed and professional trainings and certification that are compulsorily required by the oil and gas companies before employment is offered.”

The inability of Nigerians to access spe...ed trainings and certification required by the multinationals in the energy sector, particularly in oil and gas, has led to the rise of youth restiveness in the oil producing areas.

It has also led to a steady rise in illegal oil bunkering, arms and ammunitions proliferation and other related anti-social activities that the country is currently confronting.

Recognising the urgent need to deal with the situation, Nigerian professionals and experts in the oil and gas industry think it is time to put an end to it.

These experts have international experiences and the highest level of exposure and connection in the oil and gas industry.

They also have the necessary international certification, and have put heads and resources together, to make these locally available.

Egbunike is by any standard an authority in the oil and gas industry, not only in Nigeria, but globally, and has undergone 69 of the 72 technical and spe...ed trainings required in the industry.

He and some like minded Nigerians, knowing the injustice and shortcomings that Nigerians are suffering due to lack of access to the international certifications to qualify them to work in the industry, have decided to come back home and set up a company, which is the only institute that offers the training and certification required by the oil and gas multinationals.

Their effort has created the Backlang Technical Development Company, a firm devoted to providing trainings in Nigeria, although in collaboration with the some American partners, who come into the country to facilitate the trainings.

Egbunike, who is also a member of the American Welding Society, says that in the area of welding alone, there are series of training and certifications to be received, but with a complete assurance of job in the sector once certified.

He says the areas that are more lucrative and with complete assurance of securing jobs in the industry underwater welding, offshore installations, electrical jobs offshore and the likes.

“These training and certifications are now available in the country, and they will permanently solve the problem of unemployment, particularly in the oil and gas producing regions,”