Nigeria’s Telecom Industry Faces Critical Skills Shortage as Operators Push for Training Reforms
Nigeria’s telecommunications industry is sounding the alarm over a deepening skills gap that threatens its growth and ability to deliver quality services. At a recent Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) stakeholders’ forum, industry leaders warned that the mass migration of skilled professionals and the lack of structured training programs could cripple the sector’s long-term development. With Nigeria ranking a low 148 out of 164 countries on the 2022 Internet Accessibility Index, operators say urgent reforms are needed to build and retain technical talent.
Gbenga Adebayo, chairman of the Association of Licensed Telecoms Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), highlighted the losses his company has suffered due to talent migration. “In the last four years, I lost about 12 highly skilled technicians — five are now in Canada, two in Germany, and two in America. These were talents we trained, but they left because Nigeria doesn’t use the technologies they were trained on,” he said. He proposed the creation of a Telecoms Academy modeled after global standards like London’s City & Guilds, alongside licensing independent certified contractors who can provide specialized services across the country.
Tony Emoekpere, president of the Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), revealed that more than 2,000 skilled professionals have exited the industry in recent years, leaving operators struggling to meet demand. He stressed that the sector urgently requires experts in 5G deployment, cloud engineering, cybersecurity, fibre optics, and data centre operations. Without proper certification and on-the-job training, he warned, Nigeria may fall short of the government’s ambitious target of achieving 70 percent digital literacy by 2027.
The NCC acknowledged the crisis, noting that while the telecom sector has created over 500,000 jobs since liberalisation in 2001, only 11 percent of workers possess advanced digital skills required for modern operations. Abraham Oshadami, executive commissioner for Technical Services at the NCC, said critical roles such as software developers, ICT engineers, and data scientists are increasingly hard to fill. To address this, the government has rolled out programs like the 3 Million Technical Talent (3MTT) initiative, the Digital States Programme, and partnerships with private players including MTN, Airtel, and IHS, who are funding scholarships and training hubs.
Stakeholders agreed that Nigeria must adopt a coordinated approach to close the skills gap, drawing lessons from models in Singapore, India, and South Africa, where industry, academia, and government collaborate on technical capacity building. “To retain local talent, you must train them, but more importantly, you must give them reasons to stay,” Adebayo emphasized. The consensus: unless Nigeria prioritizes training, certification, and incentives, the country risks stalling its digital future and leaving millions of consumers underserved.
source: business day