Nigeria Eyes Higher-value Digital Jobs As NITDA Promotes AI-enabled Services

Nigeria is seeking to reposition its digital services sector from conventional business-process outsourcing to higher-value, artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled services as the country intensifies efforts to attract global investment and create technology-driven employment.

The director-general/chief executive officer of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, stated this during the “Hire from Nigeria” session organised by the Nigeria Economic and Trade Advancement Programme (NATEP) on the sidelines of the 81st United Nations General Assembly (UNGA81).

Abdullahi, who participated in the strategic session alongside the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr Jumoke Oduwole, and the Minister of Education, Dr Moruf Alausa, said Nigeria’s opportunity in the global digital economy should extend beyond supplying manpower for traditional outsourcing activities.

According to him, the rapid development of AI presents an opportunity for Nigeria to build a stronger position in AI-augmented and information technology-enabled services, allowing Nigerian professionals to participate in higher-value segments of the global digital economy.

The NITDA boss stressed that the objective should not merely be to train Nigerians to use emerging technologies, but to develop a workforce capable of understanding, building and adapting such technologies to create economic value.

He said, “Our opportunity is not simply to supply talent to the world; it is to equip Nigerian talent with AI, trusted digital infrastructure and globally competitive capabilities to deliver higher-value services to the world.”

The push comes as countries increasingly compete for digital services, technology investment and skilled remote workers, with factors such as reliable broadband, cloud infrastructure, cybersecurity, data protection and regulatory certainty becoming increasingly important in determining where global businesses locate digital operations.

Abdullahi therefore highlighted Nigeria’s evolving digital regulatory and infrastructure frameworks, including data protection, digital identity, cybersecurity, digital infrastructure assurance, data classification, sovereign cloud and software quality assurance, as critical components of the country’s digital-services proposition.

He argued that trust would remain a central requirement for attracting international businesses, particularly as companies increasingly transfer sensitive data and business processes across borders.

“Trust, security and regulatory certainty are essential to attracting global businesses and positioning Nigeria as a dependable destination for digital services,” the NITDA DG noted.

Similarly, he referenced Project BRIDGE, which targets the deployment of 90,000 kilometres of fibre infrastructure, as part of efforts to expand Nigeria’s digital connectivity and provide the foundation for a larger technology economy.

He also cited the government’s Cloud First Policy and related efforts to encourage private-sector investment in computing infrastructure and AI factories, stressing that access to computing capacity would become increasingly important as businesses and governments adopt AI technologies.

Nigeria’s broadband infrastructure remains a major consideration in this transition. The National Bureau of Statistics and telecommunications-sector data have continued to show the growing importance of digital connectivity to economic activity, while the Nigerian Communications Commission has also identified fibre infrastructure, right-of-way challenges, power costs and other infrastructure constraints as issues affecting the expansion of broadband services.

The NITDA DG further drew attention to the question of representation in the development of AI systems, warning that communities that are poorly represented in datasets risk being inadequately reflected in technologies that increasingly influence economic and social decisions.

He said Nigeria therefore needed to participate actively in the development of AI systems and datasets rather than remain predominantly a consumer of technologies developed elsewhere.

The country has begun laying institutional foundations for this ambition through initiatives such as the National Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics (NCAIR) and the National Artificial Intelligence Strategy, which seek to strengthen indigenous AI capabilities, research, innovation and talent development.

The development of an AI-enabled services economy could also create opportunities beyond traditional technology companies, with sectors such as banking, telecommunications, healthcare, agriculture, education, manufacturing and logistics increasingly requiring professionals who can combine industry knowledge with digital and AI capabilities.

Meanwhile, for Nigeria, the broader challenge will be converting its large pool of young and digitally inclined workers into globally competitive professionals while addressing gaps in connectivity, electricity, computing infrastructure, skills development and access to international markets.

The NITDA intervention reinforced the emerging policy direction that Nigeria’s digital economy strategy should increasingly focus not only on how many Nigerians can work for global companies, but also on the complexity, productivity and value of the services they can deliver.