Human Capital Development and Organisational Performance in Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation and Agip Company, Rivers State (2014-2024): A Comparative Analysis

This study investigated human capital development and organizational performance in Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation and Agip Oil Company, Port Harcourt, Rivers State (2014–2024). The study is prompted by the fact that despite numerous scholarly work on human capital development and organizational performance the problem of HCD and performance still persist. The study was streamlined into two research objective with corresponding research questions and hypothesis. The study adopted total quality management theory. The study adopted a mixed research design comprising quantitative and qualitative data analysis. The sample size of the study is 400 and was selected from both companies with consideration to their population size in the order of 288(72%) sample size from Agip, and 112 (28%) sample size from NNPC was determined with the use of Kpolovie’s sample size formula. Quantitative data were analyzed using Likert criterion mean (at 2.5 cutoff mark) Also, the qualitatively data was analyzed using thematic data analysis. The quantitative data was analysed using descriptive statistic was used to answer the research questions while (PPMC) was used to test the hypotheses of 0.05 level of significance. The findings of this study revealed a consistent and significant positive relationship between the two dimensions of human capital development and organizational performance in both Agip and NNPC, although Agip demonstrated a stronger correlation across all variables due to strategic alignment, innovation, and performance-driven cultures. The study concluded that sustained human-capital development substantially enhances competitiveness, efficiency, and productivity in Nigeria’s oil and gas sector. It therefore, recommended that although NNPC is currently making positive efforts in HCD, the organization should bring up their training efforts to a more strategic and competitive level when compared with Agip. Government firms like NNPC need to be more deliberate and strategic towards investing in technical and professional training. The training programs should be subsidize for the companies and also to be supervised to ensure that the right people benefit from it. There should be proper monitoring of the utilization of training funds to ensure that fund meant for trainings are not embezzled or misappropriated while reducing administrative bottlenecks that limit training programmes.