From Adewale Sanyaolu, Houston, Texas
The Petroleum Technology Association of Nigeria (PETAN) has advocated collaboration among African countries as a way of growing local content.
Chairman of PETAN, Mr. Wole Ogunsanya, stated this at the African Content Collaboration Session with the theme “Local Content Development and Partnerships for Africa’s Energy Sustainability” held on the sidelines of the Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) in Houston, Texas.
This was as he disclosed that, stakeholders across the African continent agreed in February to establish the African Content Organisation which is aimed at knowledge sharing, equipment and training to address Africa’s energy poverty.
He emphasised the significance of Nigeria’s Local Content Law, which he described as a game-changer for indigenous companies in the oil and gas industry. “The Local Content Law has enabled many Nigerian companies to engage across the value chain—from upstream to downstream and has removed entry barriers and allowed local firms to gain the experience and capacity to compete effectively.”
He highlighted that Nigeria’s local content approach is now being adopted across Africa with countries like Angola developing similar frameworks.
According to him, the African Content Organisation will be officially launched at the African Union headquarters in Ethiopia next year.
He added that the initiative aims to empower indigenous companies, create jobs, and grow Africa’s GDP. to improve lives across the continent.
Ogunsanya further stressed the importance of energy access, saying countries with higher energy consumption enjoy better health, cleaner environments, and longer life expectancy rate.
The PETAN boss argued that increasing per capita energy consumption in Africa is critical to improving education, healthcare, and overall quality of life, insisting that Africa as a continent must come together to solve its energy challenges.
Also speaking at the African Content panel session, President of the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE), Mrs. Margaret Oguntala, emphasised the need to align African engineering education with global standards.
NSE also called for greater investment in infrastructure, partnerships, and digital tools to bridge the gap between academia and industry.
Oguntala outlined key strategies for aligning African engineering education with international benchmarks to include; curriculum and faculty development, stronger engagement with industry, accreditation processes, and fostering innovation.
She also emphasised the importance of developing curriculum to reflect global best practices while building local talent pipelines.
“In Nigeria, we have begun implementing an Outcome-Based Education (OBE) system, which prioritises technical competencies over theoretical knowledge.This is a significant step forward for engineering education in Africa.
Oguntala also highlighted Nigeria’s efforts toward global recognition, noting that the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN) is a provisional signatory to the Washington Accord, an international agreement promoting outcome based engineering education.
“This progress underscores the importance of collaboration between government, academia, and industry. The government must be intentional in funding institutions, providing modern training facilities and equipment to ensure hands-on learning for engineering students,” she added.
In the spirit of regional collaboration, Oguntala revealed that Nigeria is mentoring engineering boards in Kenya and Ghana to adopt similar standards.
According to her, this aims to strengthen the continent’s engineering talent base. However, she said that inadequate funding remained a major challenge.
“The Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) is playing a supportive role. For example, an innovation hub is being developed in partnership with the University of Lagos, and we need more initiatives like this to expose students to emerging technologies,” she said.