Nigeria is set to become a talent export hub that would create one million jobs in the next five years with the launch of the National Talent Export Programme (NATEP) in U.S.
Nigeria’s Minister for Industry, Trade, and Investment; Dr. Doris Uzoka-Anite, launched the programme at the Microsoft office in NewYork on the sidelines of the 78th Session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in NewYork on behalf of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
NATEP is a special-purpose vehicle leveraging on the teeming tech-savvy youth doing well in all facets of life.
Attended by world leaders and companies including Amazon, World Economic Forum, Microsoft group, Flour Mills Nigeria, Meta, Google, and a host of others, the minister called on Nigerians to take the lead in exporting talents, which would in turn, drive a huge investment in training and also attract more investments in talent exportation.
“The initiative is in line with President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope agenda to diversify the Nigerian economy, create sustainability opportunities, and generate about 50 million jobs for the youths over time.
“As part of our strategy towards achieving this, President Bola Tinubu, whose agenda for job creation, we have initiated a national talent export programme for Nigeria, which targets the creation of one million jobs across Nigeria.
“With a target of over five years in line with the theme of this year’s UNGA, which is rebuilding trust and igniting global solidarity, accelerating action on the 2030 agenda and the sustainable development goals towards peace, prosperity, progress, and sustainability for all”.
The global talent sourcing industry is valued at $620 billion as of 2020 and industry pundits have forecast it would be valued at about $904 billion by 2027.
“Nigeria can supply top talent for the global service export and outsourcing business, with over 1.7 million graduates from higher education institutions entering the workforce annually, this will reduce the burden of unemployed and over-dependent on the government for jobs,” she said.
NATEP is specially created to arrest the bottleneck facing the talent and service sector export industry, which will enhance competitiveness, and innovation, and drive sustainable development growth, empowerment, and training through trade and value chain exhange.
