Turkana Deputy Governor John Erus has appealed for urgent investment in skills development to prepare local youth for employment opportunities expected from renewed oil and gas exploration in South Lokichar basin.

Speaking when he hosted a delegation from Swisscontact, Dr Erus said the county must begin addressing workforce requirements of the sector to ensure that local communities benefit from the emerging oil economy.

According to the deputy governor, the recent entry of Gulf oil and the subsequent approval of Oil Field Development Plan indicate the full resumption of oil exploration that had initially stalled with the exit of Tullow Oil Company.

He said discussions around the sector have largely focused on community engagement and development frameworks with little attention given to the skills needed to enable local youth to participate in the industry.

Erus welcomed plans by Swisscontact to bridge the emerging gap.

“We must now begin preparing our young people to take advantage of opportunities that will arise from the oil and gas sector. Addressing the skills mismatch is critical if Turkana youth are to participate meaningfully in the emerging industry,” the deputy governor said.

He urged Swisscontact, an organisation with extensive experience in human capital development aligned with market needs to consider working closely with the county’s Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) institutions to support upskilling initiatives using existing training facilities.

Erus further encouraged the organisation to formalise its collaboration with the county government through a structured partnership framework that would guide the implementation of skills development programmes.

“The county appreciates Swisscontact for its previous contribution to innovation initiatives in Turkana. We believe a formal partnership on skills development will help equip our youth with industry-relevant competencies,” he said.

According to the Swisscontact team leader Jimmy Delyon, the planned intervention will begin with a market assessment to identify demand-driven skills required in the oil and gas sector and its related value chains before appropriate training programmes are designed.

The organisaation cited its previous experience working in Turkana during the construction of the Kenya-South Sudan link road, where a similar assessment identified the need for skilled workers such as plumbers, masons and other technical cadres.

“Following the training, many of the participants were absorbed into the labour market,” he said.

He added that a similar approach would be applied in preparing youth to take up opportunities expected to emerge from the oil and gas sector.

The meeting was also attended by Chief Officer for Partnership Janerose Tioko and Director in Charge of Water, Sanitation and Health (WASH) under KISEDP programmes Godfrey Ikone.

• A Tell Media / KNA report / By Peter Gitonga