A tech expert and the Lead Software Engineer at Kuda, Abdulazeez Imran, has said that the current multiple challenges facing Nigeria are creating huge opportunities for tech talents in the country.
Imran, who stated this in an interview with Nairametrics, said many opportunities that are not available for startups in developed countries are in Nigeria, being a developing economy with multiple challenges that can be solved with tech solutions.
While noting that many people are currently solving payment issues in the country, he said there are challenges in several other sectors including power, transportation, agriculture, and education, among others, which offer huge opportunities for tech talents to come up with solutions.
- “As a tech talent in Nigeria, you are only limited by your imagination because there are so many things that you can develop to solve people’s problems and to help people make their lives a lot better.
- “Unlike in developed economies, where before you think about products, you have two or three options for that same thing, in Nigeria, the conversation is different, there are so many things that can be done so many products that can be built so many innovations that can be developed to solve the myriads of challenges in the country,” he said.
Shortage of tech talents
Imran noted that despite the opportunities, Nigeria is currently short of tech talents. For him, it is not just because of the recent emigration of some tech talents because the demands for tech talents in the country have always been higher than the supply.
He said this is one of the reasons the Ministry of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy is implementing its 3 Million Technical Training (3MTT) program to boost the country’s tech talent pool.
He, however, noted that software developers in Nigeria are facing infrastructure challenges, especially poor power supply and high cost of good quality internet access.
Between ‘japa’ and staying in Nigeria
Speaking on the ‘japa’ trend of tech talents out of Nigeria, the Kuda Engineer, said young talents considering better opportunities outside Nigeria must first ensure they have fully developed their expertise.
- “Before you go through the phase of exploring opportunities outside, you need to first develop your tech expertise. I wouldn’t say moving out of Nigeria is the solution, you need to take your time to master the crafts.
- “Give it a year or two or even three years; understand and build your expertise and see if it makes sense for you to stay or go.
- “I would also advise young developers to pay attention to continuous learning. That is very important. Also, build a strong network. I mean, I’m still building a strong network, not limited to Nigeria alone. By using your network on LinkedIn, and Twitter, you can have a lot of networks around the world without even meeting those people,” he said.
