Nigerian companies are suffering from the scarcity of tech workers, a report by SAP Africa has disclosed.
According to the report, nearly all organisations in Nigeria and Africa are expected to experience a tech skills-related challenge in 2023.
According to the report titled, ‘Africa’s Tech Skills Scarcity Revealed,’ Nigerian companies are the most hit when it comes to scarcity of tech skills.
It stated that all the Nigerian companies it surveyed said they had suffered a negative impact due to a lack of tech skills, compared to 60 per cent in Kenya and 78 per cent in South Africa.
In a virtual event, the enterprise application software firm further stated that Nigerian firms were struggling to attract top tech skills.
The firm stated that a lack of these skills was having a negative effect on Nigeria, and the continent’s digital transformation efforts.
Commenting on the report, the Managing Director at SAP Africa, Cathy Smith, disclosed that there was an urgent need to invest in skills development and training to ensure Nigeria and Africa can capitalise on its large youth population.
She said, “More than half of the world’s population growth between now and 2050 will take place in Africa, where 1.3-billion people are expected to be born by mid-century.
“With the correct investment in skills development, Africa’s economy could transition away from its reliance on natural resources to build the world’s future tech workforce, bringing untold economic and social benefit to the continent and its citizens. However, as our research reveals, African organisations still face some difficulties with attracting, retaining and upskilling suitably skilled tech workers.”
According to the firm, four in five organisations surveyed reported some negative effect from a lack of tech skills, with 41 per cent reporting that employees are leaving due to the pressures they experience as a result of understaffing.
To tackle the tech skills challenges, the report said many organisations have committed to creating access to the correct tech skills, with 41 per cent stating that upskilling of existing employees would be a top priority in 2023, and 40 per cent planning to reskill employees.
According to the report, the most in-demand skills include cybersecurity and data analytics (63 per cent), developer and industry skills (49 per cent), and digital transformation skills (48 per cent).