Three Overlooked Skills Nigerians Need To Thrive in the Digital Economy

Olanrewaju Adeoye
Nov 2 · 6 min read

Talent is The New Gold Mine

With the fourth industrial revolution, focus is on training and upskilling humans with technical skills to thrive in the digital economy. This implies that work-as-we-know-it is evolving. Some careers and skills that were relevant a few years ago are no longer relevant. This is a gold mine for countries with a large youth population, as they can plug into the opportunities that the digital economy presents.

Training and upskilling the large youth population for the digital economy by the government requires huge capital investment. Investments in the form of providing internet infrastructure and revamping the education system. This could be a huge expenditure in the short run but it is valuable in the long-run considering the contribution a tech-savvy population could add to the GDP of the nation. Every government (with a population large or small) is therefore responsible for preparing its masses for the future of work.

The Future of Work
The future of work has been a hot topic for the last five years. The future of work addresses the kind of skills that will be vital in the emerging era of automation, artificial intelligence and robotics. With the disruption of the workplace culture, there is a renewed demand for humans to learn new skills and adopt new ways of working.

Artificial intelligence and automation will create new jobs and render some jobs obsolete. It will not make more people jobless as some already fear. While the western world has made some advancement in tech, with robotics, virtual reality, and artificial intelligence becoming mainstream in the ecosystem; Africa is still trying to play catch up. Hence, the conversation about the future of work in Africa needs to be directed to the unique situations of the countries on the continent.

How is Nigeria Doing?
Organisations like Unionbank and Passion Incubator have written about the future of work in Nigeria and have outlined how the country can prepare its people for the shift. However, there has been little effort by the government to create programs to address the situation.

The educational institutions are not conducive to learning — from primary to tertiary education. The educational curriculum has remained significantly the same as it was about 20 years ago. There is a huge disparity between what is taught in the universities and what obtains in the real world. Every year, millions of graduates enter the labour market and the majority are clueless about what obtains in the workplace.

According to Aljazeera, four out of every 10 people in Nigeria’s workforce is either unemployed or underemployed. Also, the Director-General of Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency (SMEDAN), said that unemployment in Nigeria has reached a crisis situation, with only one out of every 100 graduates securing a job.

The time Mark Zuckerberg visited Nigeria

Nigeria Should Borrow a Leaf From India.
At one of our buzz sessions at MEST, we had David Hutching come in to share his journey into entrepreneurship. (Buzz sessions are one-hour programs where EITs have seasoned entrepreneurs and business professionals share on a particular subject).

On this particular day, David Hutching, CEO of Bloom Impact shared on his journey into entrepreneurship. In his presentation, he mentioned how he had worked with Microsoft, India for a few years and that during this period, he was involved with creating programs to support education in India.

It is amazing to see how the world’s most populous country with a population that is over 6X that of Nigeria (1.339 billion people) is reputed as the world’s leading outsourcing destination for global companies. India has been able to utilize its large population by prioritizing Information Technology across the education sector. Nigeria needs to focus more on the service industry instead of oil and agriculture. The IT industry is a huge untapped market that the government seems to be sleeping on.

A quick win is to overhaul the entire educational curriculum to only include relevant subjects with a huge emphasis on STEM courses. Younger kids should be taught how to code. Digital skills should be prioritized in all institutions of learning to ensure that what is learned in school directly correlates with workplace demands.

Three Overlooked Skills Nigerians Need To Thrive in the Digital Economy

Let’s face it, expecting the present Nigerian government to fix the IT/education sector of the economy is rather ambitious. Given that citizens have now shouldered the responsibility of the government in providing their electricity, water, healthcare, and even road. We have come to understand the value of creating our solutions to identified problems. The digital skills gap is no different. There is a need for the Nigerian youth to be digitally literate to navigate the tech ecosystem.

The opportunities available in the tech ecosystem is very wide. It is erroneous to think that a techie needs to know how to code. You can be a well-paid professional in the tech industry and not know how to write a single line of code. Other tech skills that you can master that differs from programming include digital marketing, graphics design, UI/UX designer, virtual assistant, content writing, just to mention a few.

The important skills needed to thrive in the digital economy are easy to learn especially at a young age but are largely overlooked. Here are the essential skills that will give you a headstart in the tech ecosystem.

1. Public Speaking
At a certain stage, being uncertain about what career path you should take is totally fine. Even if you think that you have it figured out, chances are that life will come with its own surprises. You have to be prepared in any case. One way you can set yourself apart is by learning how to speak in public.

According to Statistic Brain, 74% of people suffer from glossophobia ( fear of public speaking). So if you struggle with expressing yourself in public, know that you are not alone.

Learning how to effectively communicate in public will help you to confidently ace job interviews, presentations, and sales pitch. And if you ever tow the entrepreneurship path, public speaking will enable you to pitch your solution to potential clients and investors. Some professionals make good money just from speaking at events and conferences. The ability to confidently communicate your thoughts on any subject matter to your listener is crucial. More attention should be paid towards learning and honing your public speaking ability.

2. Writing
From crafting a winning cover letter, resume, presentation, a report, an article, a blog post, or even social media content; writing is a skill that should be learned and constantly improved upon. Many digital skills require good content writing. Effectively communicating your thoughts to your reader in a way that suits the occasion is key. Writing is an art. The only way to learn and improve your writing is by reading and then writing. The more you write, the better you become. You can start by building a portfolio of articles about things that you care about so that when a writing opportunity presents itself your portfolio will come in handy. A clear case of preparation meeting opportunity!

3. Reading
How much do you know about the digital skills that interest you? How much do you know about the industry that you are hoping to secure a job in? Reading is a must-have skill for every millennial. Be it a book, newspaper, or online course; your knowledge on cogent subject matters gives you an edge. Reading improves your focus and concentration, expands your memory, reduces stress and expands your vocabulary. The more you learn, the better your capacity to earn.

It is important to set reading, writing, and public speaking goals for yourself. You can decide to take one free online course per month, write one article weekly or volunteer to speak at a local event. Learning these three skills will ensure that you are adequately prepared to grab opportunities when they come. The interesting part about opportunities is that they show up unannounced, what better way to embrace them than by being prepared!

These three outlined skills may seem unrelated to the tech but it is easily your passport to hacking it in this knowledge economy.

Olanrewaju Adeoye

Written by

Olanrewaju is passionate about social change. She is an entrepreneur, a member of the Global Shapers community (a WEForum initiative) and an EIT at MEST.

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