Nigeria's Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF) has announced plans to boost the proportion of oil and gas training courses on offer within the country.

All Africa reports that the executive secretary of the fund Muttaqha Rabe Darma said that under current circumstances, the country is witnessing a capital drain as workers are flown overseas to complete industry training.

His comments came as development of the new National Institute of Petroleum Strategy and Policy picks up pace. The institute is currently under construction in Kaduna.

The facility will be accompanied by new legislation that will require all oil companies working in Nigeria to send employees to the new training base.

"The idea behind this project is to domicile all the trainings which Nigerians within the oil and gas industry get outside the country," said Mr Darma.

Nigeria has also this year passed a new local content bill that has been drawn up to boost local participation in the oil and gas industry through training and outreach programmes.

Getenergy for Western Africa