Editorial: That Our Oil May Be A Blessing - Affirmative Action Needed

The Business Analyst last week brought to you on our front page a rollout of the many opportunities that are available in the petroleum exploration and production processes currently ongoing in the country, as enunciated by the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC).

On the front page of today’s edition, Alhaji Asoma Abu Banda, a prominent Ghanaian international businessman, has expressed worry about a potential threat that an over-emphasis and over-dependence on petroleum activities by Ghanaians could bring to the country.

But Alhaji Banda did not express his fears in a vacuum. He cites the Nigerian example, where a country noted for large-scale groundnut production and exportation ended up importing the commodity, simply because many Nigerian farmers abandoned their groundnut farms and redirected their resources to pursue livelihood in the oil business.

Expectations, not only of the youth in the Western region of Ghana but from all over the country , appear to be very high, as the majority are hopeful they would be given preference when employment opportunities become available, ala local content requirements. As the business magnate who is also a member of the Council of State advocates, there is the need for an intensive education of the youth, especially, to equip them with the basic skills necessary to position them for engagement by those who would need their services as well as manage their expectations. Already, the country is beginning to see and hear various people describing themselves as experts in one area or the other in the petroleum industry and organizing seminars and workshops, charging fees. It is our hope that these ‘experts’ have equipped themselves with the right knowledge in order that whatever expertise they are imparting would be beneficial not only to those who subscribe to their services but to national development as well. The Business Analyst believes that in view of the lateness in day, as far as preparing Ghanaians for the various job opportunities that would arise is concerned, government ought to embark on an affirmative action to make their effective participation a reality.

Government can sponsor training programmes related to the petroleum sector at the various universities and polytechnics, with the support of the various international oil companies, taking advantage of the training provisions of the Petroleum Exploration and Production law, P.N.D.C. Law 84. This is the only way the country can accelerate the process of make it possible for the attainment of the seemingly ambitious targets set out in the policy framework, which is being developed for local content in the production process as the country delivers its first commercial oil in the last quarter of this year. The Business Analyst believes that a policy framework is good and necessary. However, when the people for whom the policy is formulated lack the necessary skills and expertise to rightfully lay claim to the various positions and opportunities that become available in the production process, then we have no excuse, and no one else to blame but ourselves.

It is important that even as the country seeks to define the threshold for local content in the production process of Ghana’s oil, the authorities concerned identify, as quickly as possible, some of the obvious areas to develop people for that opportunity.