Vice President Kashim Shettima has called on international companies to consider Nigeria a major destination for outsourced services, citing the country’s large population of young, digitally skilled and English-speaking professionals.
Shettima said the Federal Government was seeking to significantly expand Nigeria’s participation in the global outsourcing industry, with a target of creating one million export-linked jobs by 2030.
He disclosed this at the global launch of the Hire From Nigeria campaign in New York, held on the sidelines of the 81st United Nations General Assembly. His address was delivered by the Deputy Chief of Staff to the President, Senator Ibrahim Hassan Hadejia.
Shettima said Nigeria had the demographic and human-capital advantages needed to serve businesses across international markets.
“While much of the industrialised world grows older, and quietly wonders who will fill the productivity vacuum, Nigeria produces, every single year, a new generation of digitally fluent, English-speaking, ambitious young men and women, ready to serve the world from the home front and from a time zone that is convenient for almost every continent,” he said.
The Vice President said the global outsourcing industry was on course for significant expansion, while Africa continued to account for only a marginal portion of the market.
“The global market for outsourced services will be worth over a trillion dollars in a few years’ time. It is, in truth, one of the great transfers of opportunity in modern economic history, and Africa’s share of it remains barely a rounding error.
“And so I put it to you plainly: Nigeria is the next frontier for global outsourcing,” he added.
Government, private sector seek wider talent export
The Hire From Nigeria campaign is a government-backed, private sector-led initiative designed to connect Nigerian professionals, digital specialists, creatives, skilled workers and other service providers with employers and customers in international markets.
The New York launch came after the initiative was unveiled nationally in Abuja on August 31, 2026.
The organisers said the campaign is intended to improve the visibility and accessibility of Nigerian talent while expanding the country’s footprint in the global digital and services economy.
Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr Jumoke Oduwole, said the programme aligns with four major priorities of the President Bola Tinubu administration: youth development, employment creation, services and digital trade.
“Hire From Nigeria brings together four of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s priorities: youth, job creation, services and digital trade,” Oduwole said.
“We are reshaping the talent pipeline, working together across government and the private sector to take full advantage of the opportunity that lies ahead.”
The Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, said Nigeria had failed to take full advantage of the first major global outsourcing boom roughly two to three decades ago.
He said the country was now seeking to capitalise on the latest expansion of the industry, with education and skills development playing a central role in the government’s ambition of building a $1 trillion economy by 2030.
Alausa said education reforms were being designed to align training with actual labour-market requirements.
The objective, he said, is to ensure that “people are not just learning for the sake of learning; they’re learning to provide solutions and learning to earn.”
20,000 Nigerians currently in outsourcing sector
President and co-founder of Tech4Dev, Joel Ogunsola, said about 20,000 Nigerians were currently employed by domestic and international outsourcing companies.
He said these workers operate across areas including customer and business support, technology and data, and specialised and regulated services.
According to Ogunsola, Africa’s outsourcing industry is expanding at a pace significantly faster than comparable markets globally. He said Nigeria would need to strengthen skills development, improve access to qualified professionals and build confidence among international employers to scale its talent exports.
“Nigeria’s investment in skills has to be demand-driven, talent must be easy to find, we must build trust, and we must then match the talent to jobs,” he said.
“If you’re an international business looking to set up and hire in Nigeria, Hire From Nigeria will support you.”
Country Director for Nigeria at the Mastercard Foundation, Rosy Fynn, similarly stressed the need for skills programmes to be built around actual employer demand.
She said the foundation’s approach was “not to train first and look for jobs, but instead to understand what the market is looking for, and provide the training and talent to fit the need.”
Luqman Edu, co-founder and Executive Chairman of Itana, said Nigerian professionals already possessed many of the skills required by international businesses, while efforts were underway to improve the infrastructure needed to enable them to compete in global markets.
“Nigeria has the talent, and we are providing the infrastructure to ensure this talent can solve the world’s problems at competitive pricing,” Edu said.
Government agencies pledge support
The Bank of Industry said it would continue supporting young entrepreneurs through programmes such as Investment in Digital and Creative Enterprises, known as iDICE.
The bank’s Divisional Head of Multilaterals, Yinka Adegboye, made the commitment while representing its Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Dr Olasupo Olusi.
Meanwhile, the Director-General and Chief Executive Officer of the National Identity Management Commission, Abisoye Coker-Odusote, said reforms were being implemented to strengthen digital trust through credentials capable of being verified both within Nigeria and internationally.
The launch brought together stakeholders from the outsourcing, financial services, manufacturing, education and healthcare sectors, alongside development partners and representatives of government agencies.
Among the agencies represented were the National Information Technology Development Agency, National Identity Management Commission, National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure, Securities and Exchange Commission, Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria and Galaxy Backbone Limited.
The Hire From Nigeria campaign is championed by Tech4Dev and Univelcity in partnership with the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment through the National Talent Export Programme.
The Federal Ministry of Education, Bank of Industry through iDICE, Mastercard Foundation, other government institutions, development partners and private-sector organisations are also supporting the initiative.
