By: Sayo Alagbe
Nigeria’s widening digital skills gap has again come under national scrutiny following concerns raised by Tosin Eniolorunda over the inability of qualified Nigerians to fill hundreds of technology-related vacancies.
In a strongly worded position statement released in Lagos on May 6, 2026, Dr. Niran Oyekale, Executive Chairman of Commit Technology & Consult Limited, backed the Moniepoint chief’s remarks, describing the country’s talent shortage as “real, structural and solvable.”
Speaking at the recent The Platform Nigeria, Eniolorunda disclosed that Moniepoint has struggled to fill more than 500 vacancies because many applicants fail to meet global competency standards despite the company’s commitment to local recruitment.
According to Dr. Oyekale, the situation reflects decades of systemic failure in Nigeria’s education and workforce development structure. He identified poor alignment between tertiary education curricula and the modern digital economy, the continued “japa” migration of skilled professionals, declining work ethics, and the absence of globally verifiable digital certifications as key factors responsible for the crisis.
He noted that the problem extends beyond Moniepoint, citing similar concerns reportedly expressed by prominent industrialist Aliko Dangote and former Finance Minister Kemi Adeosun over the shortage of employable technical talent in Nigeria.
Dr. Oyekale argued that Nigeria risks losing out on opportunities in the global digital economy if urgent reforms are not implemented. He lamented that despite a population exceeding 200 million, Nigeria still contributes only marginally to the global digital outsourcing market because many graduates lack practical digital skills and internationally recognised certifications.
As a solution, he proposed the full implementation of the Future Proof Economy (FPE) Model, a national digital competency framework developed in collaboration with Certiport/Pearson and adopted under resolutions of the 13th National Council on Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy held in Jos in December 2025.
The framework, according to him, is designed to equip Nigerians with globally recognised certifications in digital literacy, software development, cybersecurity, cloud computing, artificial intelligence, data analytics and other emerging technology fields.
He explained that the model provides structured training across multiple competency levels and ensures that participants graduate with internationally verifiable credentials issued by global organisations including Microsoft, AWS, Cisco, CompTIA, Adobe and EC-Council.
Dr. Oyekale called on the Federal Government to immediately enforce the resolutions of the council by making digital literacy certification compulsory in Nigerian tertiary institutions, operationalising VAT waivers for certification materials and establishing a Presidential Digital Literacy Management Structure.
He also urged universities, polytechnics and colleges of education to integrate the FPE Foundation programme into graduation requirements beginning from the 2026/2027 academic session.
The technology consultant further appealed to development partners, private sector organisations and state governments to align future skills-development investments with globally recognised certification systems capable of producing measurable and industry-ready outcomes.
Linking the initiative to the Federal Government’s National Talent Export Programme (NATEP), Dr. Oyekale said Nigeria could begin filling thousands of technology vacancies within the next 18 months if the FPE model is fully deployed nationwide.
He commended Moniepoint and Eniolorunda for “speaking uncomfortable truths,” stressing that Nigeria’s challenge is not a lack of talent but the absence of structured, certified and globally competitive manpower.
“The time for structural solutions is now,” he stated, warning that continued delays could further weaken Nigeria’s competitiveness in the rapidly evolving global digital economy.
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