Femi Ashekun/
The founder and chief executive of Moniepoint, Tosin Eniolorunda, has issued a stark warning about Nigeria’s capacity to compete globally, declaring that the country does not currently have enough highly skilled technical talent residing within its borders to build companies capable of scaling internationally.
Speaking after his address at The Platform Nigeria on May Day, Eniolorunda said the debate that followed his remarks only reinforced what he described as an uncomfortable but necessary truth.
“We must tell ourselves the truth. Nigeria currently doesn’t have enough highly skilled technical talent resident in Nigeria to build companies that can scale globally,” he said.
He framed the talent gap as a critical constraint on growth in Africa’s largest economy, noting that while Nigerians are widely recognised for their resilience and work ethic, structural limitations continue to undermine the country’s ability to produce and retain top-tier expertise.
“We Nigerians are some of the most hardworking and gritty people in the world,” he said, before adding that opportunities remain “few and far between” in a labour market marked by high unemployment and underemployment, as well as a shortage of employers relative to Nigeria’s population size.
Eniolorunda stressed that the issue is not about the general quality of Nigerians, but about the scarcity of senior, high-impact professionals who remain in the country.
“This is not about Nigerians generally; this is about senior Nigerian talents still resident in Nigeria,” he said. “Nigeria is not producing enough high-quality senior technical talent, and the little we have are emigrating.”
To illustrate the scale of the challenge, he posed a series of questions about the availability of experienced professionals capable of handling complex, large-scale operations.
“How many engineering executives do we have remaining in Nigeria that lead a payments team processing tens of millions of transactions daily without fail? How many senior data scientists can build models to appraise millions of customers while maintaining prudent non-performing loan levels?” he asked.
He also questioned the availability of growth leaders with proven experience in scaling digital platforms rapidly while maintaining efficiency.
The Moniepoint chief linked the shortage to weak industrial depth, arguing that Nigeria lacks sufficient “feeder industries” to nurture junior talent into senior leadership roles.
“As such, there are fewer starter companies that young talent can come from to feed into senior roles,” he explained.
“Everyone then ends up fighting for the same pool of senior leaders that have the experience and bandwidth to deliver.”
He further highlighted the long-running impact of brain drain, drawing parallels with earlier waves of professional migration.
“The effect of the Japa wave has been well chronicled,” he said, recalling how Nigerian medical professionals left in large numbers in the 1980s for opportunities in the Middle East.
“As at March 2024, Nigeria had lost around 16,000 medical doctors to other countries, most especially the US and the UK.”
Eniolorunda warned that declining education standards are compounding the problem, weakening the pipeline of future talent.
“The quality of technical education is also falling as our standard of education is lagging behind global counterparts,” he said.
Despite the challenges, he noted that Nigerian firms are already competing on the global stage, often against better-resourced ecosystems.
“Can we say we have enough senior technical talent in Nigeria to compete with global competition, especially China? But Moniepoint, Dangote, Flutterwave, LemFi are competing with them,” he said, referencing companies including Dangote Group, Flutterwave, and LemFi.
While training programmes are essential, he cautioned that they cannot solve immediate needs.
“Training young talents can fill the gap for the future but is inadequate for today. Companies need senior talent and cannot wait eight to ten years to develop them,” he said.
Eniolorunda outlined efforts by Moniepoint to address the gap, including its DreamDevs programme, partnerships with universities, and initiatives aimed at expanding female participation in technology.
However, he acknowledged that even with such interventions, companies are often forced to retain Nigerian talent abroad at international pay levels.
“Competing globally means you spend top dollars to retain top Nigerian talents that you have nurtured,” he said.
In closing, he called for a collective national effort to confront the issue directly.
“Self-deception isn’t a virtue; we must tell ourselves the home truth. We need to raise the quantity and quality of our technical talents resident in Nigeria to compete. No organisation can rise above the quality of its output, and execution is everything in this game.”
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