Nigerian Skills Gap

Citation

(2005), "Nigerian Skills Gap", International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management, Vol. 54 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/ijppm.2005.07954daf.002

Nigerian Skills Gap

The Association of Nigerian Information Technology Professionals in America (NITPA) has called for a massive increase in the training of Nigerian Civil Servants in information technology skills, suggesting that over N50 billion is lost annually in low productivity due to the lack of training in the labour force.

The Association’s President, Professor Manny Aniebonam delivered a paper recently to the Academy of Civil Service (ASCON) pointing out that the implementation of a Civil Service Enhancement Program with particular reference to IT capacity building will not only increase the productivity of the public sector labour force but also prepare Nigeria for digital competitiveness.

In the seminar represented by over 25 Heads of Service, Aniebonam argued that it takes ten Nigerian civil servants (who possess significantly lower levels of IT skill) to do the job of one American civil servant.

His view is that Nigeria is 25 years behind developed countries in e-government, ten years behind South Africa, and three years behind Ghana: capacity building is a national imperative for all heads of service.

He suggests that the most appropriate means of finding a sustainable solution to this problem is through a Public Private Partnership – PPP – approach.

“There is a big gap in IT skills between the average Nigerian worker and workers of comparable economies around the globe. This gap, at the rate of Nigeria’s current IT intervention, will continue to grow far beyond the present 15 years deficit”, he said.

He further suggests that graduates of Nigerian Universities, many of whom end up in the civil service of the States and Federation, do not even possess the computer skills needed for basic tasks, such as internet surfing, word processing, paper presentation, database management and spreadsheets.

The average civil servant, he says, would prefer to use a typewriter and have someone to assist or write reports by hand. This is partly because of the skill gap but also because in some cases the basic tools are not even available.

AfriHub – a leading service provider in Nigeria – is already making a significant contribution by building state of the art IT parks at Universities and Polytechnics throughout Nigeria, each with its own backup power and robust C-band satellite connectivity to the internet. Aniebonam suggests that AfriHub is willing to work with the heads of service within the Civil Service to initiate a training program in fulfilment of the Nigerian e-government initiatives. Such partnerships may be the only way in which Nigeria can play “catch up” with it more developed neighbours.