A renowned telecoms policy enthusiast, Mr Omobayo Azeez, has warned that the rising skills gap challenge in the Nigerian telecommunications sector is constituting a major threat to the future of the $75.6 billion industry.

He noted this while delivering a keynote presentation on ‘Bridging Skills Gap to Accelerate the Indigenous Telecoms Development’ at the just concluded second edition of the Nigerian Telecommunications Indigenous Content Expo (NTICE 2023) organised in Lagos by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).

He said for the sector to continue to thrive, telecoms companies require professionals with skills in various areas such as cybersecurity, data analytics, wireless network engineering, software development, fibre optics engineering, IP networking skills, cloud computing, and VSAT engineering among others, but which are not sufficiently available at the moment.

“The current existence of the skills gaps puts a strain on telecom firms, limiting their ability to expand, innovate, improve customer services or develop new products,” Azeez said.

According to the Convener of Policy Implementation Assisted Forum (PIAFo), while the sector is growing in geometric progression, the workforce that shoulders its day-to-day operations and support is rather depleting, a development he described as a ticking time bomb.

He said: “Available data show a high global demand for tech skilled-workers particularly in the telecoms sector. This is why the situation is even scarier for a low-middle income country such as Nigeria because high-income economies that desire similar skilled labour will always have their way enticing away capable hands and talents from here.

“This is happening already,” he said, adding that in 2022 alone, operators in the sector lamented losing over 2,000 trained telecoms personnel in Nigeria to other countries.

According to Azeez, operators are finding the gaps difficult to fill as prospective applicants often lack the required knowledge and skill set to deliver, while trained workers are leaving.

“This has hampered the rate at which operators recruit. For instance, operators across the GSM, Internet Service Providers (ISPs), Value-Added Services (VAS), Fixed Services and other subsegments of the sector have only employed additional 679 workers in the last three years, which cannot serve licensees in the sector even at a one-to-one ratio.

“Whereas, the talks around 5G, edge infrastructure, internet of things (IoT) and smart city initiatives all demand more capable hands to innovate and undertake professional tasks to achieve the future aspiration of the sector.

In his address, Azeez, who doubles as Team Lead, Business Metrics Limited, highlighted causes of the current skills gap in the sector.

According to him, they include defective educational systems, inadequate training programmes, poor remunerations, japa syndrome, global high demand for tech-skilled workers, government policies, and rapid technological advancements.

He encouraged industry stakeholders to leverage the National Policy for the Promotion of Indigenous Content in the Nigerian Telecommunications Sector (NPPIC), among other local content policies to develop homegrown talents with skill capacities that are globally competitive.

“While effective collaboration is required between government, operators, and educational, research and training institutions to bridge the gaps, the process should begin with operators by putting in place training and internship programmes within their organisations to meet their immediate needs.

“Operators should also review employees’ remuneration and welfare packages to retain already groomed talents before they are enticed with better offers in foreign markets because labour follows the money. Expatriate quota requirements and succession plan should also be adhered to,” he added.

He further underscored investments in employees’ training and capacity building to maximise available talents, adding that investments in the workforce should be prioritised the same way as Capital Expenditure (CAPEX).

“It would be a gross injustice not to acknowledge young Nigerians for their ingenuity, skills and entrepreneurial spirit, but the current skills gap identified in the ICT and the telecoms sector must not be ignored and should be jointly tackled before it escalates from an operating threat to an existential one.

“Therefore, we should commit to grooming and retaining talents to attract more investments and secure the digital future of the country,” Azeez concluded.

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TECHDIGEST – As part of efforts toward the protection of the telecom industry, which contributes impressively to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Prof. Isa Pantami has insisted that Nigeria will no longer import telecom products and services that can be manufactured locally.

The Minister, who was speaking at the maiden edition of the Nigerian Telecommunications Indigenous Content Expo (NTICE), 2022 held at the Landmark Centre in Lagos, said this will heavily reverse the trend of importation of all types of telecommunications products, especially where production in Nigeria is possible.

“Government had put efforts towards the protection of the telecom industry, which contributes impressively to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), by insisting on the drastic reduction in the reliance on foreign products. Thus, importation of such products like Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) cards that can be produced in Nigeria is discouraged,” he said.

The Minister, who commended the Nigerian Communications Commission for organizing the (NTICE) expo, also condemned the proposed five percent excise duty on telecommunications services in Nigeria. He argued that the Ministry, which oversees the industry, was not consulted and that the timing of such duty in a period of hardship as is being witnessed in Nigeria today is antithetical to the growth of the industry.

“I was not consulted before the decision on five percent excise duty was reached, and it was unfair to impose such a tax on an industry that was already burdened with other taxes and already contributing about 17 percent to the country’s revenue,” he said.

Pantami told his audience, including the Chairman of the House Committee on Telecommunications, Hon. Akeem Adeniyi Adeyemi, that his position was already shared by the National Assembly which was also not consulted on the issue before it was announced.

“We must do what we need to do to protect the industry. Beyond making our opinions known, we will take legitimate and legal steps to stop any plan against the interest of the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) industry,” he added.

Meanwhile, the Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission, Prof. Umar Danbatta, said the objective of the NPPIC is to transform the enormous strides achieved by the telecom industry in the last two decades into long-term indigenous economic development outcomes for Nigerian companies and citizenry.

Danbatta said the Commission has taken various steps to ensure that the process of implementing NPPIC is painstakingly pursued through capacity strengthening, institutional building and strategic policy tools, which will further promote domestic and economic linkages, job creation and the participation of local Small and Medium-Scale Enterprises (SMEs) in the telecom value chain via the supply of goods and services to the sector.

The Nigerian Telecommunications Indigenous Content Expo (NTICE), 2022 was oragnised as part of effort to vigorously pursue the objectives of the National Policy for the Promotion of Indigenous Content in the Nigerian Telecommunications Sector (NPPIC), through the National Office for Developing Indigenous Telecoms Sector (NODITS) domiciled in the NCC.

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TECHDIGEST – The Executive Vice Chairman (EVC) of the Nigerian Communications Commission, Professor Umar Danbatta, has said the commission has so far identified 72 action points to promote indigenous content in the telecoms sector.

Danbatta disclosed this in his keynote address at the third edition of Policy Implementation Assisted Forum with the theme: ‘Establishing Trackable Metrics for Developing Nigeria’s Indigenous Telecoms Sector’ in Lagos.

He added that the commission has also brought at least 30 stakeholders to the round table to chart ways for the effective implementation of the National Policy for Promotion of Indigenous Content Policy in the Nigerian Telecommunications Sector (NPPIC) assented to By President Muhammadu Buhari in 2021.

The EVC, who was represented at the forum by Babagana Digima, Head of the Nigeria Office for Promoting the Indigenous Telecoms Sector (NODITS), said: “At a higher level, the Commission had identified 72 time-based metrics for NPPIC which it classed into immediate, short term, medium term, and long-term items and these include activities such as the creation of NODITS dedicated to guiding the policy; constitution of local content steering committee; engagement with relevant internal and external stakeholders; and commissioning baseline studies on the level of indigenous content in the Nigerian telecoms industry”.

Others, according to him, include development of regulations, monitoring and enforcement of Key Performance Indices (KPIs) and methodologies; development of implementation guidelines; continuous efforts in research and development (R&D); monitoring, evaluation, and enforcement.

“To ensure the effective implementation of the NPPIC, we have articulated several targets and high impact interventions, which are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Time-based (SMART)”, Danbatta said.

In his remarks, Omobayo Azeez, Convener of PIAFo, stressed the need to domesticate inputs into the telecoms sector to ease pressure on the Nigerian economy. While acknowledging that the telecommunications sector had unarguably become one indispensable economic enabler for the country and its people, he said sadly, the sector remains grossly dependent on foreign inputs which at the end of every operating year resulted in capital flights above $2.16 billion.

“When operators have to depend solely on foreign talents, solutions, equipment and accessories, they will also have to deal with the hassle of accessing forex as one of the major problems. As such, operators suffer, customers suffer and even our dear Naira is also at a receiving end – it continues to lose value.

“We realise that with the policy in place, the work has just begun because effective implementation of a policy is the true measure of its success. We want this policy to come to fruition and create inclusive benefits for individuals, businesses and the economy,” he said.
The National Policy for Promotion of Indigenous Content Policy in the Nigerian Telecommunications Sector, which was introduced in May 2021, seeks to increase local content in the sector with attention to building local capacity and increasing patronage of indigenous content in telecoms.

Source: Nairametric 

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