The founder and president of Tech4Dev, Joel Ogunsola, has said Nigeria cannot afford to wait until it is 100 per cent ready before showcasing its talent to the global market, as the Hire from Nigeria campaign seeks to position the country as a competitive destination for international employers.
Following the Federal Government’s recent launch of the “Hire From Nigeria” campaign, aimed at creating global employment opportunities for Nigerians without requiring them to leave the country, Ogunsola said the initiative would connect Nigerian talent with international employers.
Speaking in an interview on ARISE NEWS on Wednesday, Ogunsola said the campaign was focused on building trust and discoverability while ensuring Nigerians acquire skills that match evolving global demand.
“There’s a lot of work going on in parallel. But are we going to wait until when we are 100% to say to the world that we have the right talent and the right skill sets? I’d say no.
“Today, the government is already investing in a lot of upskilling, whether it’s TVET programs, digital training academies, or 3MTT. But how do you ensure that as those investments are being made, they are matched to the right type of demand globally? Ensuring that the skill sets being learned are also what is in demand, and evolving as rapidly as those skill areas change,” he said.
According to Ogunsola, Nigeria’s challenge is no longer a shortage of young people, but ensuring they have the skills the world is willing to pay for, can be discovered by global employers and trusted to deliver.
He said the campaign would engage international companies to identify emerging skills needs and align training with shifting global demand, particularly as artificial intelligence reshapes the labour market.
“We do have a strong, young population, but the question is: are people learning the skill sets that are in demand in the world? The very first step is ensuring that learning is demand-driven. What were people hiring for in 2019? Fast forward to what the world was hiring for during COVID: people were looking for virtual assistants, remote workers, and the like. Now, post-AI era, the demand is starting to shift as well. As the demand is evolving, the marketplace or talent ecosystem also needs to evolve.
“The very first responsibility is understanding—and that happens only by engagement. You engage with global corporations to understand: what is your forecast for the next 1 to 2 years? What is the forecast for 3 to 5 years? What type of skill set do you think you’ll need? That’s the very first step on the way where the campaign is engaging with employers to understand. Because today, there’s a lot of investment and training going on.”
He also said the government deserved some credit for recognising outsourcing and talent export as pathways to job creation.
“Again, I’d give the government quite some credit here in this case. You’ll see that even in the President’s manifesto in 2023, there was a very clear-cut agenda of creating jobs through outsourcing and talent export. That was something that was clear.”
Highlighting the importance of creating opportunities for Nigerians to earn globally without leaving the country, Ogunsola said the campaign would also accommodate legal and managed migration, particularly for skilled artisans, doctors and nurses, where legitimate international opportunities exist.
He stressed the need to increase the country’s production of skilled professionals to meet both local and global demand.
“There is a small segment of this campaign that would also see some form of legal, managed migration. That’s why if you listen to the proposition, it’s both for white-collar as well as skilled artisan programs. For a lot of the skilled artisan programs, there’s a lot of demand in Europe and a lot of places where countries have legitimately opened up pathways. Even without going into that, our doctors and nurses are constantly moving. Ultimately, what we need to do here is increase production.”
Disagreeing with concerns that poor infrastructure could undermine the campaign, Ogunsola said Nigeria could remain competitive by combining its main power supply with alternative sources, noting that other outsourcing markets also face similar challenges. He, however, acknowledged that legal and regulatory issues had not been fully resolved, but said work was ongoing to harmonise the sector through the National Talent Export Programme.
“I disagree. The numbers prove that you can be competitive. At the rate you can have your main electricity source, you can have alternative power as a backup and still be competitive in the global market. From a holistic standpoint, I would say: have we fixed it 100%? No. Is work in progress? Yes.
“Three years ago, at the start of this administration, the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment set up the National Talent Export Program, which is a regulatory mechanism to start to harmonize some of these different issues. It’s significant as well that issues around intellectual property sit under the IP Protection Seats at the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment. A lot of work has gone into that.
“Sometime late last year or earlier this year, the President signed some form of harmonization and sector-wide coordination approach to ensure that a lot of the efforts required to make this successful—that existing silos are brought together under one umbrella. As the Minister mentioned at the launch, in a couple of weeks, the Nigerian Outsourcing Policy will eventually be launched as well.”
Responding to concerns over the timing of the campaign ahead of the 2027 elections, Ogunsola dismissed any political connection, saying the initiative was driven by the urgency to turn Nigeria’s growing young population into tangible economic opportunities.
He also said tackling negative perceptions about Nigeria would require a joint effort involving the media, noting that the campaign would use media engagement and roadshows to build confidence in Nigerian talent.
“I’m not a politician, and I can’t speak about the timing of the elections or not. It hasn’t come up in conversations, very genuinely. But I’ll say that there’s always an urgency of now. The demographic dividend and the economic opportunity that this brings to the country, to young people, to families, to local communities—the potential is significant. Nobody can deny that.
“I think it’s a joint effort. I think that the media and the press have a huge responsibility—or I wouldn’t say responsibility, but a huge role to play. We’re going to have a couple of roadshows. But ultimately, I’d say it’s a continuous effort,” he said.
Highlighting Nigeria’s competitive advantage in the global outsourcing market, Ogunsola pointed to the country’s large population, English-speaking workforce and the resilience of its young people.
He added that Nigeria’s larger talent pool could also offer lower labour costs than established outsourcing markets such as India, Kenya and South Africa, while stressing the need to ensure workers are fairly compensated.
“I would start by saying, one: communication sits at the very core of delivering any task. Me being able to communicate with you and you being able to understand what I’m saying—Nigeria, with English being our legal language.
“Two: we have a wider population base, which also means that cost per unit is significantly lesser than India—almost three times lesser than India, and almost one and a half times lesser than Kenya and South Africa.
“More important is also the resilience of the Nigerian youth. Because of the larger population, you have people who are hard-working and will take more than any other person would get in order to deliver. What we also need to ensure as the program goes on is that people are paid fairly, people are compensated, and the right things are done.”
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