MTN Nigeria CEO, Dr. Karl Toriola delivered a strong call for digital skills adoption and curriculum reform at the 11th Public Lecture of the Sigma Club, University of Ibadan, on Thursday, July 3, 2025.
Speaking on the theme, Leveraging Technology & Digital Education for Mass Employment, Wealth Creation and Poverty Alleviation, Toriola said technology and education can drive large-scale transformation by unlocking access to both global and local job markets.
He explained that digital tools enable entrepreneurship, remote work, and access to essential services, especially in underserved areas.
He pointed out several barriers: the infrastructure deficit caused by high deployment costs, poor electricity, and insecurity in rural areas; digital literacy and education gaps; gender and regional disparities; outdated or inconsistent government policies and weak public-private coordination.
Referencing a story about a high-achieving Nigerian doctor, he said,
“I saw an article a few days ago about a Nigerian medical student or doctor that qualified simultaneously in [different] specializations of medicine. It’s incredible what some of our people are doing. Our youths are ready. Our systems must be ready too.”
Among his recommendations, Dr. Karl Toriola called for expanded digital infrastructure, changes to school curricula, stronger public-private partnerships, and programs designed with gender and cultural awareness in mind.
“We must make education employable,” he said. “We have to create the opportunities for students to practice what they are learning with institutions, private-sector institutions that are using those skills of the future.”
Toriola also emphasized that while automation and robotics dominate conversations about the digital economy, there is still significant opportunity in content creation, manufacturing, and agriculture.
“Huge opportunities exist in Nigeria. We need to provide the environment for the Nigerian youth to thrive by driving connectivity, changing the curricula to allow our students to acquire the skills that are required in the job market of today.”
He closed with a message of encouragement, saying, “It does not matter however you start. Where you get to at the end of the day is a product of how dedicated, focused and hardworking you are. Never give up. Nigerians have an immeasurable capacity to deliver if given the right opportunities.”
Earlier, Folajimi Oyekunle, deputy chief of Staff to the Oyo State Governor, delivered the welcome address on behalf of Governor Seyi Makinde.
He noted that the lecture’s theme was timely and aligned with the administration’s focus on innovation and inclusive development.
Citing initiatives such as the Waste to Wealth program, which created 12,000 direct jobs, and the recruitment of 21,000 teachers, he highlighted efforts to improve employment outcomes in the state.
He also mentioned that the state’s internally generated revenue had risen to 8.5 billion in the first quarter of 2025, compared to a pre-2019 average of 1.6 billion.
“The government so far has worked in line with all stakeholders to create an enabling environment for job creation, which gives our graduates the opportunity to be employed in government work. As a government, we continue to support and encourage wealth in the state and also to support programs like this, which in one way or the other, gives back to their school,” he said.
Other dignitaries present at the event included the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Abimbola Owoade; Dr. Gani Adeniran, retired lecturer from the University of Ibadan’s Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, who served as Father of the Day; and Professor Gabriel Ogunmola, Chancellor of Lead City University, Ibadan.
Initiatives like MTN’s recently launched Digital Skills Academy reiterate the company’s commitment to expanding digital access and opportunity.
The platform includes a career guidance tool to help users identify and pursue paths aligned with their strengths and market demand.
It forms part of the MTN Foundation’s Digital Skills for Digital Jobs programme, which supports the National Digital Economy Policy and Sustainable Development Goal 4 on quality education.
The primary responsibility MTN has to the public is to provide the highest possible quality of mobile connectivity. This shows respect and the willingness to offer service for the money collected. Important as all the other public services offered are, they should not be substitute for meeting MTN’s fundamental obligations.
MTN doesn’t seem to care or be aware of the poorer quality of user experience in its mobile broadband networks that are due to not attending to basic rectifiable issues. MTN should not be capitalizing on the fact that NCC does not monitor the quality of MTN’s mobile broadband networks as it does its 2G and 3G networks to ignore rectifiable issues that have adverse impact on user experience while promoting its highbrow services. The higher the quality of user experience in MTN’s mobile broadband networks, the higher the value users get from them. It is not sufficient for MTN’s customer service agents to provide prompt response to complaints, that amount only to asking customers to reset their routers, when issues such as high packet loss and packet delays in the networks are the sources of the problems that customers are experiencing. I understand this is not an executive level issue, since executives are too busy generating new sources of revenue for the company to have time to show concern for the value ordinary users receive for the nairas they pay. However, the mere fact that MTN is not investing resources in simple tasks that are, though not glamorous, essential for enhancing the quality of user experience, subtracts from the value of important advice such as those offered in this address by its CEO.