The Ugandan government needs to forge links with universities and private sector companies to add depth to the national talent pool, according to Julius Babyetsiza, programme officer for research and computer systems at the National Association of Professional Environmentalists (NAPE).

Writing for New Vision, the officer concedes that there have been few instances of collaboration between these three spheres in the recent past, a failure that has stifled skills development across the country.

He added: "With the discovery of oil it is high time Uganda developed a sustainable strategy for addressing the graduates' unemployment problem through government-university-industry linkages and partnerships."

In turn, this will help the country to secure sustainable economic growth akin to that enjoyed by countries such as Malaysia, which has harnessed revenues from natural reserves to launch training programmes for the benefit of the national workforce.

Last month, Tullow declared that Uganda could become one of the top 50 oil producing nations in the world.

Oil and Gas Directory: Training and Development