Joy Agwunobi
Nigeria’s telecoms industry is facing a deepening skills crisis as operators and regulators warn of the accelerating migration of highly skilled professionals, a trend that threatens the sector’s sustainability and long-term growth.
At the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) Stakeholders’ Consultative Forum on Skill Gaps in the Telecom Value Chain, executives and regulators raised concerns about the loss of over 2,000 skilled personnel in recent years, leaving critical operational gaps across the industry. The forum underscored the urgency of developing, retaining, and, where possible, repatriating technical talent to safeguard the sector’s future.
Gbenga Adebayo, chairman of the Association of Licensed Telecom Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), lamented the heavy migration of skilled professionals, pointing out that many leave for countries offering better opportunities and social guarantees.
“In my little business, I lost in the last four years maybe about 12 highly skilled technicians – five are now in Canada, two in Germany, two in America. These are talents we trained, but they left because the country does not use the technologies they were trained on,” Adebayo said.
He cautioned that unless Nigeria develops mechanisms to both train and retain talent, the industry risks long-term decline. To address this, Adebayo proposed the establishment of a Telecoms Academy dedicated to practical and vocational training with globally recognised certifications such as those offered by London’s City & Guilds. He also suggested a service delivery model driven by independent certified contractors – technicians trained, licensed, and equipped to provide services nationwide.
“To retain local talent, you must train them, but more importantly, you must give them reasons to stay,” he stressed.
Echoing this concern, Tony Emoekpere, president of the Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), confirmed that the talent drain has reached alarming levels.
“Over 2,000 skilled personnel have left Nigeria in recent years, creating huge operational gaps. Without structured certification and on-the-job training, we cannot meet the government’s target of 70 percent digital literacy by 2027,” Emoekpere warned.
He identified pressing needs for expertise in 5G deployment, cybersecurity, cloud engineering, fibre optic infrastructure, commissioning engineering, and data centre operations. He also noted that poor quality standards in infrastructure build-outs already account for more than 70 percent of customer experience challenges in the sector.
Emoekpere urged the NCC to adopt international models such as those in Singapore, India, and South Africa, where industry, academia, and government collaborate to develop technical talent. He called for the creation of a National Skills Council for Telecoms to coordinate training, certification, and career development pathways.
Regulator responds with interventions
The regulator also acknowledged the scale of the challenge. Abraham Oshadami, executive commissioner, Technical Services at the NCC, observed that while the liberalisation of Nigeria’s telecoms industry in 2001 created more than 500,000 jobs, the sector is now threatened by a shortage of indigenous talent.
“Studies show employers require about 30 percent of advanced digital skills, but only 11 percent of workers currently possess them. Five critical roles – desktop support technicians, ICT engineers, software developers, data analysts, and data scientists – already make up a quarter of telecom jobs, but nearly 30 percent of these positions are hard to fill,” Oshadami said.
He outlined several government-backed programmes designed to bridge the gap, including the 3 Million Technical Talent (3MTT) programme, the Digital States Programme, the National Artificial Intelligence Strategy, as well as NCC-led initiatives such as the Campus Innovation Entrepreneurship Programme and the NCC-Nokia 4G/5G training scheme.
Private sector players, including MTN, Airtel, ATCON Academy, and IHS Towers, are also investing in scholarships, digital hubs, and entrepreneurship training to strengthen the talent pipeline.
Oshadami emphasised that the forum must move beyond identifying gaps to building actionable frameworks that will “carry Nigeria’s telecoms sector into the future, powered by indigenous talent.” He urged stakeholders to design practical recommendations covering technical, software, business, and soft skills development.
Operators and regulators agreed that addressing the skills gap will require joint efforts by government, industry players, training institutions, and global partners. Priority areas include enforcing professional standards, expanding structured certifications, and creating incentives that will encourage skilled talent to remain in Nigeria.
With the industry at the heart of Nigeria’s digital transformation agenda, stakeholders stressed that bridging the talent deficit is critical to sustaining growth, driving innovation, and positioning the country competitively in the global digital economy.
