The emigration (japa) of technical workers in the Nigerian telecommunications sector to other countries has become a major source of worry for the operators, TechEconomy.ng can report.
This phenomenon has led to the popularization of a Yoruba word known as ‘japa’ (pronounced as Jakpa)
A record number of people are relocating abroad from their home countries. Many of these leavers are those with very good jobs and enviable career prospects.
It has been projected that the japa syndrome may persist as there are little or no indicators that Nigeria’s leadership will make any significant headway in terms of positive transformation-at least for now.
Therefore, the industry players are worried that this phenomenon may lead to poor quality of services if not addressed as competent hands are resigning their positions in telecom companies to seek greener pastures abroad.
Mr. Ajibola Olude, According to the Executive Secretary of the Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON) over 2,000 telecom experts left the country this year (alone) and many are still in the process of leaving.
He made the claim while speaking at the NITRA ICT Growth Conference 2.0 held in Lagos recently.
Although, he did not present data to back up the claim, Mr. Olude however said this could begin to impact the quality of the telecom networks if there are fewer competent hands to handle network issues.
In his words: “While we have been talking about the problems of multiple taxations and the high cost of Right of Way in the telecoms sector, a new challenge is coming up and that is the issue of brain drain in telecoms. Many competent hands are leaving the country for greener pasture abroad. In the course of this year alone, over 2,000 have left and many are still going to leave. We have to do something; the government has to do something in this regard to encourage Nigerians to stay.
In his contribution, Mr. Chris Uwaje, the Chairman of Mobile Software Solutions Limited, called on the government to put in place the right infrastructure that can keep young Nigerians engaged and give them hope for a brighter future in the country.
Uwaje who chaired the conference said, “The government is currently blind with regard to the digital brain and is only concerned with revenue generation. Those who are ‘japaing’–I would want Nigerians to look for another word for the exodus of its human capital because it sounds like a joke but this is a serious issue—are leaving because the government has failed to provide the social infrastructure they need to survive.
“If Nigeria had built telecommunications knowledge Parks and put thousands of youths there, many of them can be working for foreign companies from there; that is outsourcing. They don’t have to run out of the country to work for foreigners. They will be doing that here and earning in foreign currencies. We need the government to build these Parks to encourage our young ones to stay.”
