As artificial intelligence (AI) and automation reshape the global workplace, Nigerian organisations have been urged to radically overhaul their human resource practices to remain resilient and competitive.

Stakeholders in the sector made the call at the HR Space 2026 Conference, organised by Caleb Business School, Magodo, in partnership with the Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators of Nigeria (ICSAN), Chartered Institute of Personnel Management of Nigeria (CIPM) and the University of Greater Manchester, United Kingdom.

The conference with the theme: ‘Reimagining HR for Business Resilience and Growth’, brought together HR leaders, CEOs, academics and policymakers to chart a new direction for workforce management in Nigeria.

Speaking at the event, Vice Chancellor, Caleb University, Prof. Olalekan Asikhia, declared that the traditional administrative role of HR is obsolete. He said HR must evolve into a strategic driver of innovation, competitiveness and sustainable growth.

“The old playbook is no longer fit for purpose. We cannot continue to manage people the way we did in the 1990s. The world has changed, the workforce has changed and if we do not change, we will be left behind,” Asikhia said.

He identified economic volatility, talent shortages and technological disruption as the triple threat confronting Nigerian businesses, urging universities and employers to collaborate in producing graduates with digital and leadership skills.

In his keynote address, President and Chairman of the Governing Council of the CIPM, Ahmed Ladan Gobir, highlighted the rise of the gig economy and the need for new leadership models.

Gobir, who was represented by the institute’s Registrar and Chief Executive, Oluwatoyin Naiwo, noted that Nigeria’s labour market, dominated by self-employment and informal work, requires updated labour policies and portable social protections.

He urged organisations to embrace flexible workforce models while ensuring fairness and welfare for all categories of workers.

A fellow and senior researcher, Centre for International Human Resource Management, University of Cambridge, Prof. Jens Jenssen, argued that people management is now a shared leadership responsibility, not the exclusive preserve of HR departments.

He called for strategic workforce planning, robust talent management systems and leadership development programmes to prepare organisations for future skills needs.

Chair of the British Academy of Management and Professor of Leadership and Enterprise at the University of Manchester, Professor Christian Harrison, said Nigeria’s skills crisis is a leadership failure rather than an HR or training issue, warning that skills acquired even a decade ago are already obsolete, and criticised organisations for cutting learning and development budgets whenever inflation rises.

Citing National Bureau of Statistics data, he highlighted that 28 per cent of Nigerian graduates cannot find jobs matching their training, 37 per cent of young people are underemployed or unemployed, and 1.4 million are actively seeking opportunities abroad.

Despite these challenges, Harrison urged HR practitioners to see Nigeria’s demographics as an opportunity, noting that 840 million people are expected to enter Africa’s workforce by 2050. He outlined seven competencies future leaders must embrace, including learning agility, foresight, cultural intelligence and ethical decision-making, supported by a framework built around courage, psychological safety, strategic alignment, proper resourcing, advocacy, and accountability for developing people rather than focusing solely on revenue targets.

Discussions at the conference also touched on employee well-being, workplace culture, artificial intelligence, talent retention, ethics and work-life balance. The event ended with a renewed pledge by HR professionals, business leaders and academic institutions to collaborate in building a resilient workforce capable of driving Nigeria’s long-term economic growth in a digital-first global economy.