Morocco, Botswana, 13 others ahead of Nigeria in global skill rankings

Claims that Nigeria is home to a pool of talented individuals may have been punctured by recent global rankings, which rated the country 105th out of 109 countries surveyed.

The survey conducted by Coursera Enterprise ranked Morrocco 64th, Botswana (66), Rwanda (71), Egypt (72) and Cameroon (74). Tunisia, Zambia, Ethiopia, Algeria, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Cote’d’ Ivoire, South Africa, Uganda and Ghana are among African countries ahead of Nigeria.

Nigeria, at 105th position, was only ahead of Somalia at 107 and Sudan at 109, according to the report.The global and regional skill rankings represented how learners across countries performed in the business, technology and data science domains largely.

The 81-page report explained that Botswana, which ranked 66th globally is number one in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), scoring 72 per cent in business skills, 73 per cent in technology and 23 per cent in data science. Rwanda, which ranked 71 globally, had 64 per cent in business skills, 24 per cent in technology and 28 per cent in data science.

While Cameroon ranked third in the region, in terms of business skills, it recorded 48 per cent; in technology, it had 38 per cent and 21 per cent in data science.

In SSA, Nigeria ranked 12th with 26 per cent business skills, one per cent technology skills and one per cent data science. According to Coursera Enterprise, SSA must focus on developing a skilled young workforce, especially given the lagging skill rankings of most countries in the region.

It noted that with 230 million digital jobs projected by 2030, investing in accessible, job-relevant learning is crucial for the region.It stressed that learners focus on skills like risk management, auditing and supply chain systems. Accordingly, it said the prevalence of mobile learning (65 per cent) highlighted the importance of flexible, on-the-go learning solutions.

Coursera Enterprise noted that enabling further Internet access will be critical to skills development, as 75 per cent of Africa’s Internet traffic comes from smartphones.

Speaking specifically about Nigeria, the report said with 76 per cent of learners accessing courses on mobile devices, learners in Nigeria gravitate toward
flexible, on-the-go learning, saying they focus on developing technical skills like SQL and HTML/CSS, as well as business skills like advertising and business communication.

According to it, the top target roles learners prepare for span engineering and marketing, include cloud security engineer, product marketing manager, and e-commerce analyst.

However, Coursera Enterprise said with only one in 10 workers holding positions that require advanced skill levels, these skill sets are crucial in addressing Nigeria’s youth unemployment rate, which stands at 53.4 per cent.

Speaking on South Africa, the report said South Africa has the potential to generate 4.5 million new jobs across industries by 2030.It, however, said with an estimated 28,800 digital and ICT jobs already being outsourced, there’s a pressing need to develop a skilled domestic workforce.

“Learners focus on building business skills such as risk management, supply chain systems, and brand management, preparing for roles like IT project manager, operations manager, and business analyst. With 62 per cent accessing courses on mobile devices, they demonstrate a strong preference for flexible, accessible learning,” it stated.

According to the Chief Executive Officer of Coursera, Jeff Maggioncalda, said several factors may influence a country’s skill ranking, stressing that this edition of the report introduces an evolved skills ranking methodology that combines our skill proficiency data with leading economic indices on global innovation, labor force participation, human capital and GDP per capita.