Since the discovery of oil and gas (O&G) in commercial quantities in 2007, Ghana has made some progress in passing several policies such as Local Content and Participation Framework, ostensibly to stem the effects of resource curse – connotes countries with more natural resources turned to be undeveloped than countries without natural resources. Put it differently, the country’s local content is meant to stimulate industry development by indigenizing the needs of the petroleum industry. However, the above aim is constrained by the country’s infrastructure deficit of about US$ 2.5 billion annually needed to provide the enabling environment for the growth of indigenous companies. The study, therefore, is to propose policy options for enhancing local content implementation through infrastructure development. To that end, the policy implementation in Angola, Brazil and Norway is reviewed, and the research participants are purposively sampled and interviewed. Consequently, the study found that the regulatory institutions and legal framework should be strengthened to attract private investment in infrastructure development. In addition, a special provision should be inserted in future petroleum contracts to support the Infrastructure Fund; through infrastructure-for-oil trade; and encouraging voluntary contribution from oil companies in exchange for reduced taxes into the Infrastructure Fund. The findings contribute to the existing literature in local content development by moving the discussion from training, local employment and goods and services targets to developing host country’s local infrastructure for sustainable development of indigenous and foreign businesses.

Most resource-rich countries in Africa are introducing or reinforcing Local Content Policies (LCPs) and regulations to propel socio-economic development since its introduction in the North Sea. Local content is now a prerequisite for granting exploration license to international oil companies (IOCs) and suppliers in the Gulf of Guinea region (GGR). The paper analyses and compares LCPs - successes and impediments factors - from two perspectives: the North Sea – Norway, UK, and Denmark; and the Gulf of Guinea – Angola, Nigeria, Ghana, Liberia and Equatorial Guinea to glean policy lessons for the Gulf of Guinea countries. The study of the comparator countries found that the policy implementation in the GGR is constrained, inter alia by inadequate infrastructure, industrial base and supplier base, technical and financial capacity of domestic firms and weak regulatory institutions. Also, the LC policy is overly ambitious and prescriptive which ignores the GGR’s state of industrial development. To engineer resource-based development in the GGR these countries must move beyond its preoccupation with local content regulations to addressing the above challenges conducive for the development of linkages.

This study espouses a multi-strategy method comprising of a qualitative study and system dynamics (SD) to deliver the long-term dynamic behaviour of human resource development (HRD) in Ghana’s oil and gas sector. The adoption of the SD differed from previous studies addressing the local content implementation challenge of human resources, thereby allowing HRD to be considered a ‘system’ which, in turn, aided in comprehensively identifying and analysing the interrelationships among the dominant variables. Focal articles were reviewed to develop a causal loop diagram (CLD) for human resource and subsequently validated qualitatively. The CLD was used for analysing interconnections among the variables in the HRD and as a basis for developing the stock and flow diagram for projections. The study found that local content investment is projected to increase from $799 million to $3.0807 billion in 50 years, with a corresponding revenue increase from $29 billion to $44 billion in 50 years. Subsequent sensitivity analysis compared the local content model results under varying situations, which indicated the possibility of a demand for 20,000 local staff. The study further uncovered two critical issues affecting HRD, namely policy coordination and harmonisation and sustainable funding. These issues are exacerbated by the pervasive political interference in the administrative and operational functions of state oil and gas institutions.

Purpose-This study seeks to investigate customer's attitude towards banking following Bank of Ghana's banking sector cleanup exercise with focus on market women in the Yilo Krobo municipality. This manuscript represents a starting base for similar researches to be conducted in other selected municipalities in Ghana. Methodology-The study considered both the primary data source which were obtained through the use of self-administered survey questionnaires from a total of 198 conveniently selected market women in the Yilo Krobo Municipality of Ghana, and secondary data source mainly through the review of existing literatures from journals, newspapers and articles. Findings-The study revealed an opposing attitude towards banking among market women, as more than 70% of market women in the municipality had their banks or financial institutions dissolved and for that matter losing their business capital and personal savings. This position has resulted in only a few market women (18%) maintaining high confidence in the banking sector. The majority of market women rated their confidence level as moderate (41%), low (33%) and no (8%), citing unpaid locked up funds, the fear of losing their savings again, loss of trust and to some extent a suspicion of political interferences in banking activities in the country as reasons for their ratings. Conclusion-It is recommended that, a similar exercise should not be carried out in the future as its ripple effects on customers can further ruin their trust completely in the banking sector. Furthermore, in the wake of dissolution of any institution, a much more attention should be given to how customers will be paid as early as possible to save their businesses and livelihoods.

Prerequisite for the development of production linkages in the oil and gas (O&G) industry is the existence of a skilled and experienced workforce. Resource-rich countries, however, are either in short supply or lack of the requisite local capacity. This paper adopts system thinking (ST) methodology to provide a comprehensive approach in identifying, analysing and understanding the interconnections and interrelationship among the variables affecting the challenge of human resource development (HRD) in the oil industry. The concept of feedback embedded in ST allows complex issues to be viewed as an interconnected set of circular relationship rather than the linear cause-and-effect. Consequently, ST tool of causal loop diagram (CLD) aids in visualising the understanding of HRD factors, their relationships in the causal factors and the strategies for sustainable development of domestic skills, know-how and local capacity. Policies for developing human resource in the oil and gas industry are recommended to policymakers and stakeholders.