The year 2022 has seen one of the largest exodus of talents from the Nigerian tech ecosystem. Students and employees at top banks have migrated to other nations to school and work. What does this mean for Nigerian businesses? How can this be managed?
Saidu Abdullahi, CEO of Procentric IQ, at the Digital Nigeria Conference 2022, expressed that some of the factors behind the loss of talent in Nigeria are poor education systems, bad policies, and inefficient training systems for entrepreneurs. We can’t have massive training of young people if our systems cannot accommodate the large number of young people graduating from our schools.
For Abdulganiyu Rufai, CEO of Digital Development Hub, the current institutions we have in place to train our talents are not efficient. He cited an example of how India has surpassed Nigeria in terms of creating better institutions that have developed the talent base of the nation.
Hadiza Saidu, MD, Pacer Labs, who agrees that the nation is losing so much talent to foreign nations, said that the signing into law of the Start-up Bill is a good step to address such issues. The bills will foster public-private partnerships, drawing investors’ attention to the Nigerian start-up ecosystem.
The way forward
Khalil Halilu, the founder of Shapshap.com, said that the summit, Digital Nigeria Conference 2022, is one good project that will help reduce the negative situation local talents face in Nigeria. He also mentioned that training on non-technical skills like leadership and marketing are key drivers to developing sound talents in Nigeria.
Building hubs for training by NITDA across the nation and partnerships between parastatals such as NCC and the Nigerian start-up space are good steps to curb the current negative scenario, Abdulganiyu explained.
Saidu also shared that there is a need for every business in Nigeria to prioritize talent retention. These can be done by appreciating employees more, reviewing reward systems, and considering equity offers to key talents of businesses. These will create a better environment for these talents to thrive.
Read also;
Why Nigerian start-ups should look beyond Fintech
How to build successful start-ups in Nigeria
