Oil and gas players, including the government, have been urged to intentionally transform skills developed in the sector into a foundation for broader national industrial development.
As the sector moves towards the production stage, some are wondering why more Ugandans are being skilled in oil and gas. In 2014, the international oil companies published the Industrial Baseline Survey report, which showed that the Lake Albert Basin Development project will create between 100,000 and 150,000 jobs through direct, indirect, and induced employment.
The companies asked the government to make available the required talents, goods, and services that not only meet international oil standards but also satisfy their demands. One survey at the time suggested that the sector needed 15% engineers and managers, 60 percent technicians and craftsmen, and 25 percent unskilled workers.
The survey report recommended that the government work in partnership with the oil companies to ensure that the education system produces qualified graduates for the industry.
The government was to ensure that the graduates were certified to enable them to work in the oil fields, as an international practice. Over the years, petroleum engineers, geoscientists, civil engineers, electrical engineers, and mechanical engineers, among other have been trained.
Hands-on training covering welding, scaffolding, heavy goods vehicle driving, and Health, Safety, and Environment (HSE) has been conducted. So far, about 14 institutions have attained international certifications, including OPITO, EICTB, and City & Guilds accreditation.
It is estimated that over four thousand Ugandans have been imparted with practical skills related to the oil and gas industry. The Workforce Skills Development Strategy and Plan for the Oil and Gas 2015-2025 (WSDSP), the skilling component was to cost £120 million. Some of those have been employed by the industry. Some, especially the highly skilled welders, were not taken up by the oil and gas operations.
It is on that basis that some have questioned why Uganda should continue imparting such skills, which may not be required when oil production takes off.However, Professor Augustine Ifelebuegu, the Vice Chancellor in Charge of Academic Affairs, disagrees that Uganda may not need more skilled individuals in oil and gas.
He suggests that the skills are all-encompassing and cut across other sectors of the economy. He emphasized that even technical skills such as welding have broad economic value beyond oil and gas. “A welding technician trained in pipeline construction has expertise in precision fabrication, quality inspection, safety compliance, and international standards,” he said. “That person can work in manufacturing, automotive assembly, railway systems, construction, mining, and renewable energy infrastructure.”
He warns against allowing the petroleum industry to operate as an isolated economic enclave. Professor Augustine Ifelebuegu was delivering a keynote address at the Third Oil and Gas Skills Expo 2026, held under the theme “From Oil and Gas to the Wider Economy.” The Expo, which opened on Wednesday, is being hosted by Makerere University. It was organized by the Petroleum Authority of Uganda and other players in the sector.
Professor Augustine Ifelebuegu suggested the need for what he described as “capability beyond petroleum,” arguing that the country must deliberately design pathways that allow oil and gas expertise to strengthen other sectors of the economy. “Capability beyond petroleum is about how we take what we are building in oil and gas and ensure that it does not remain locked within one sector,” Prof. Ifelebuegu said.
“We must ask ourselves: how does this capability serve the wider economy?” He emphasized that Uganda’s oil and gas development phase presents a rare opportunity to build long-term national industrial capacity, rather than focusing only on extraction and production. “We should not only be asking how much oil Uganda will produce,” he noted.
“We must also ask what industrial capability Uganda will possess after oil.”Prof. Ifelebuegu, a Chemical Engineer, has spent over 27 years working across oil and gas and process industries, explained that his own career demonstrates how skills gained in petroleum engineering can be transferred across multiple sectors. “I started as an environmental officer in the oil and gas industry,” he said.
“Many years later, I have worked in water systems, construction, and academia. Everything I learned in oil and gas helped me move across sectors.”He stressed that the oil and gas sector is uniquely structured around discipline, safety, precision, and systems thinking, qualities that are essential in all modern industries.
“The oil and gas industry operates under extreme technical, financial, environmental, and safety demands,” he said.
“A mistake in banking may result in financial loss, but a mistake in oil and gas can cost lives, destroy ecosystems, damage economies, and harm national reputation.” Because of these high stakes, he argued, the sector naturally develops strong professionals who are well prepared for leadership roles in other industries.“Workers in this sector, regardless of what they do, are trained in risk management, quality assurance, environmental protection, emergency response, logistics coordination, and project execution,” he said.
“These are not just petroleum skills. These are advanced industrial competencies.”Ifelebuegu said Uganda needs to learn from countries that have successfully used resource sectors as a platform for broader industrialization, citing Norway, South Korea, Germany, and Malaysia as key examples. “In Norway, oil was not treated as an end in itself,” he explained.
“It was used as a foundation for building national engineering capacity, research institutions, and supplier industries.” He observed that Norway’s petroleum expertise later supported offshore wind, marine engineering, robotics, and carbon capture technologies. “Today, Norway’s oil and gas competence is not limited to petroleum.
It has evolved into offshore wind, marine engineering, and clean energy innovation,” he said. He also gave an example of South Korea’s industrial journey, explaining how early investments in heavy industry laid the foundation for global automotive and manufacturing success. “In the 1970s, South Korea invested in shipbuilding, petrochemicals, and heavy engineering,” he said.
Today, companies like Hyundai have become global leaders in the automotive industry. That transformation was built on cumulative learning.” Hewarned that one of the greatest risks facing emerging petroleum economies is the development of an “enclave system,” where the oil sector grows independently without meaningful linkages to the rest of the economy.
“One of the greatest risks facing emerging petroleum economies is enclave development,” he said. “This is where the oil sector grows separately, imports most of its expertise, and creates limited domestic integration.”He cited Nigeria as an example of both progress and limitations.
“Nigeria improved local participation through its content development policy,” he noted. “But broader diversification has been slower because linkages between petroleum capability and other sectors were not strong enough.” He urged Uganda to avoid repeating this pattern. “Uganda has the opportunity to avoid such traps,” he said.
“But localization alone is not enough. We must focus on capability multiplication.” The professor highlighted major oil and gas projects such as the East African Crude Oil Pipeline as key training grounds for national industrial skills. “These projects involve cross-border coordination, engineering integration, logistics systems, environmental monitoring, and community engagement,” he said.
“The skills developed here must not end here.” He explained that such competencies can be applied to smart cities, renewable energy systems, industrial parks, water infrastructure, and transport networks.
“If you train someone to manage a pipeline across 1,443 kilometers, that person can manage a national water system or a railway network,” he said. He added that environmental specialists trained in oil and gas are equally valuable across sectors.
“Environmental engineers learn impact assessment, waste management, biodiversity protection, and regulatory compliance,” he said. “These skills are urgently needed in urban development, agriculture, tourism, and climate adaptation.” URN