Nigeria Faces 490,000 Tech Talent Gap, NDPC Warns

The Minister of Innovation, Science and Technology, Dr Kingsley Tochukwu Udeh, SAN, has praised the Nigeria Computer Society (NCS) for its role in advancing Nigeria’s digital economy.

Delivering a goodwill message on Tuesday at the Rise 2026 Conference held in Jos, Plateau State, under the theme “Harnessing Digital Innovation and Emerging Technologies for Inclusive Growth and Economic Renaissance”, Dr Udeh commended the Society’s leadership for convening stakeholders from the tech ecosystem and political leadership.

The Minister emphasised ongoing collaboration with the Nigeria Computer Society on the Youth and Students in Innovation programme, which seeks to equip young Nigerians with relevant tech skills for employment and entrepreneurship.

“We are not just criticising problems; we are providing solutions,” the Minister stated.

He revealed that the Federal Executive Council has approved a memo establishing the National Research and Innovation Fund.

“This will soon be transmitted as a bill to the National Assembly. This fund will support our innovators, inventors, and researchers whose work has market potential to access markets and industries.

“We are also working on regenerative energy and sustainable solutions, areas in which your society is actively contributing,” Dr Udeh stated.

He called for deeper collaboration between the government and the tech community, urging Nigeria to move beyond being called the “Giant of Africa” to truly demonstrating that status on the continental and global stage.

Also speaking, the National Commissioner and CEO of the Nigeria Data Protection Commission, Dr Vincent Olatunji, highlighted the importance of data protection and digital trust as critical pillars for sustainable digital growth. He stated that with broadband penetration currently at 10–12 per cent, Nigeria risks widespread vulnerability to cybersecurity threats by 2030 if adequate safeguards are not implemented.

“Currently, the broadband penetration is about 10-12 per cent. We are saying that by 2030, almost all of us will be lost to cybersecurity threats if we don’t protect it,” he warned.

He stressed that the primary goal of data protection is to ensure safety and build digital trust through proper consent, data integrity, transparency, and protection of citizens’ personal and financial information.

Citing lack of transparency as a major culprit in data protection violations, he referenced unethical practices by some digital lending platforms that misuse borrowers’ contacts upon default.

“They give out loans to vulnerable people, underrepresented people, needy people. They give you a loan, maybe N20,000, N30,000, N40,000, N50,000… If you default for one or two days, the next thing is that they have access to your contacts, contact directory, and start sending messages.

“That is a lack of transparency. And that’s why most of them have big cases brought against them. All they had to do was inform them about these terms in terms of the policy. Most of them didn’t.

“And even the tech giants, some of them that are collecting our data, are they telling us enough about their privacy policy? Yes, they have data protection, that is transparency,” he added.

The NDPC CEO identified skills and talent gaps, estimating a shortage of 490,000 tech jobs in Nigeria, and called for urgent reskilling and capacity building, especially in the era of Artificial Intelligence.

“Even in Europe, speaking from experience, from a digital privacy perspective, now, 94 per cent of the talent needed in Europe is not available for high-tech skill, big capacity digital skill.

“How much more our country, Nigeria, that is just coming up in terms of digital economy?” he stated.

He commended several government initiatives, including the National AI Strategy, which has positioned Nigeria among the top five AI countries in Africa according to the IMF, the 3MTT programme targeting three million technical talents, Project Bridge aimed at laying 90,000 kilometres of fibre optic cables, the expansion of data centres, and the establishment of over 130 innovation hubs nationwide.

Dr Olatunji also welcomed the recent signing of the new NDPC Act and the ongoing work on the Digital Economy Bill.

He highlighted Nigeria’s achievements, noting that five of Africa’s nine unicorns are Nigerian and that the digital economy consistently contributes 18–19 per cent to the nation’s GDP.

He called for stronger public-private collaboration across government, private sector, academia, and civil society to build an inclusive, responsible, and globally competitive digital economy, leveraging Nigeria’s youthful population as a key asset.