As Nigeria continues to leverage the immense opportunities inherent in the digital economy, the need to bridge the existing skill gap for digital competencies is crucial, while recognising its critical role in enhancing employability and driving economic progress, writes GLORIA NWAFOR.
The technology space has proven to be more efficient, cost-effective and an office-on-the-move that suits the modern savvy population.No doubt, employers, would-be employees, government and other critical stakeholders in the labour sector agree that this is the right time to tap into the potential that technology offers in unlocking latent economic prowess for business growth and job creation on a sustainable basis.
At this year’s job and employability fair, stakeholders submitted that in today’s rapidly evolving digital economy, equipping Nigeria’s workforce with relevant skills and opportunities needed for long-term career success was crucial to reducing unemployment and driving economic growth.
They said that preparing job seekers for the realities of today’s labour market and the demands of tomorrow was crucial at this point. Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Muhammad Dingyadi, noted that in an era defined by rapid technological advancement and digital transformation, the ability to adapt, learn and apply digital skills was no longer optional but essential.
According to him, nearly all industries now rely on digital proficiency to not only operate but to thrive and compete favourably alongside their peers.
Speaking on ‘Future Ready: Harnessing Digital Skills for Career Success and Employability’, Dingyadi said the theme underscores a critical and timely shift in the global workforce landscape.
He said that by equipping job seekers with relevant digital capabilities, the theme contributed to the country’s national goals of job creation, innovation, reduced unemployment, and economic growth.
According to him, the multiplier effect will be the development of future-proof careers where skills gaps are bridged and reduced to the barest minimum.
The minister maintained that the fair fostered a digitally literate workforce that could attract global opportunities and investment, as well as achieve the priority areas of the renewed hope agenda of the current administration.
The Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA)’s Director-General/Chief Executive, Adewale-Smatt Oyerinde, underscored the fair’s significance as a strategic intervention to bridge the gap between employers and job seekers, thereby addressing the problem of youth unemployment through the promotion and development of digital skills for today’s jobs.
Represented by the body’s Thompson Akpabio, he said the job fair was organised by NECA in collaboration with the Labour Ministry, with support from the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ-ZME), in Lagos, as part of efforts to ensure the youths empower themselves digitally to make them employable.
At the job fair, employers had on-the-spot job interviews with thousands of job seekers and members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), who were almost rounding off their one-year mandatory programme.
While the youths lamented the high rate of unemployment in the country, the employers said the jobs are there, but most youths and job seekers lack the requisite skills and potential to up their game.
They charged them that while in school and during their internships, they should upskill themselves through certification and trainee programmes, gain experience, and grow their talents to become an employer’s delight.
Head of Talent Acquisition and Employee Assistance Programme (EAP), Flour Mills Nigeria (FMN), Olubusola Basanya, commended NECA on the initiative despite the huge number of graduates churned out yearly.
She said that while there is also a need for a lot of upskilling, people should be open to learning and have personal values. She said offers available at her organisation were for exclusive engineering programmes, dedicated to engineers. Sharing her experience, she said a lot of young graduates don’t know the value of the courses they are studying.
“Our initiative is to enlarge their exposure by helping them know the opportunities inherent in their courses. The majority of graduates don’t know the things they need to know, but we do so by exposing them to current issues like automation, writing their CVs, and things needed to know to protect themselves and be employable.
“Using experience as a yardstick, I ask that experience can be from their internship placements and also when they are undergraduates, they should know to go get experience that counts for something.
“What we do here is to counsel people. We respond to their queries on opportunities that will match their level of experience. We are not looking at overly experienced folks, but there is something for everyone at FMN, whether an internship or NYSC for their career path,” she said.
Similarly, Talent Engagement Manager, Guinness Nigeria, Victor Ogunleye, said the high unemployment rate would continue to increase due to companies exiting an unfavourable business environment.
He said opportunities are limitless due to job seekers not meeting the right skills. He urged that they continue to equip themselves and improve on their certifications to become an employer’s delight.
Left with less than two months to their passing out from the NYSC and their plans to be in gainful employment, a Computer Science graduate from Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University, Uli, Anambra State, Johnson Eziuzo, said the fair was a big opportunity for Corp members to explore and prepare themselves for jobs.
“I’m already feeling the life after NYSC. I have to prepare myself. The high rate of unemployment is quite alarming, but we, mostly Generation (Gen) Z, will always find a way to fend for ourselves without waiting for the government,” he said.
When asked if the government was doing more to tackle the high rate of unemployment in the country, he said the government should create more opportunities for youths, even as he encouraged youths to continue to improve their skills for better opportunities.
His counterpart, Blessing Inyang, an English and Communications Studies graduate from the Federal University, Otuoke, Bayelsa State, said she was expecting to get a job from the fair.
Looking at the massive unemployment rate in the country, she urged the government to put more effort into tackling the high unemployment rate.
