Professor Wumi Iledare, emeritus professor of Petroleum Economics at Louisiana State University, has called on the Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF) to prioritise value creation over numerical targets in its training programmes. Speaking Friday in Lagos, Mr Iledare made the remarks following President Bola Tinubu's appointment of Shu'aibu Aliyu as executive secretary of PTDF, replacing Ahmed Aminu, who resigned to contest the 2027 Adamawa governorship election. Mr Iledare acknowledged PTDF's role in building human capacity through scholarships, research and technical training, which has reduced reliance on foreign expertise in Nigeria's oil and gas sector. However, he stressed that the global energy transition demands a shift from counting trainees to measuring tangible economic impact. "The key question is no longer how many people are trained, but how much value each trained professional brings to the sector," he said. He urged the agency to align training with industry needs, update curricula regularly and strengthen partnerships with oil firms and regulators. Success, he added, should be judged by job creation, innovation and contributions to national development, not just enrolment figures.
Appointing a new PTDF boss changes nothing unless the agency stops chasing headcounts and starts delivering measurable returns. Mr Iledare's call to measure value, not graduates, exposes years of output-focused spending that never translated into sectoral growth. If Shu'aibu Aliyu's leadership is judged by results, not ribbon-cuttings, Nigeria might finally see skilled professionals turning into real industrial gains. The fund's past reliance on training volume over performance now stands as a quiet indictment of policy inertia.
