One unsolved problem that has battled the Nigerian Local industries in decades is the issue of awarding viable jobs, contracts or projects to expatriates where Nigerian skilled hands can accurately function. Reports have it that the government recently awarded a multibillion energy project to SIPEN and some foreign companies with no single Nigerian Company listed.
Nevertheless, Companies as Eroton have made an exception by building a standard work culture that promotes Nigerian expertise. On Saturday, Mr Dele Aikhionbare the Head Business Development Eroton who was a guest speaker at a students’ event held in Lagos gave this report.
He stated that Eroton who now produces 34 barrel of crude oil has a totally Nigerian team,
” We do not have a single expatriate working for Eroton , we show the capacity of the Nigerian people”. He said that this initiative by Eroton was the first of its kind in the Nigerian Engineering Industry.
To the aspiring engineers of the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE), University of Lagos Student Chapter, He discussed at length on what it takes to succeed in the Oil and Gas Industry. He said that technical skills and soft skills were required, but stressed that the possession of soft skills usually considered as a more critical skill .
Soft skills which could be interpersonal and broadly applicable across jobs and industries entails the possession of Leadership skills, Work Ethics, communication skills, creativity and decision making and so many more valuable positive values. These valued skills by default promote the image of a staff or a job seeker. Giving an instance of a company’s choice of an average engineer,who is a team player over a disruptive engineer who lacks this basic skill essential for team advancement . He summarily added that the ability of a staff to work in a multigenerational cultural environment remains very important for growth.
