Tosin Eniolorunda, the chief executive officer (CEO) of Moniepoint, says the company is struggling to fill about 500 job openings due to a shortage of qualified talents in Nigeria.
Eniolorunda spoke at The Platform in Lagos recently.
In a viral video on social media, he said his firm had
decided to prioritise hiring locally, but has been unable to find candidates
who meet its global standards.
“We made a decision that we will no longer hire from any
other place than Nigeria. If you go to Moniepoint career website, we have maybe
500 vacancies and we are struggling to find people to fill those roles,” he
said.
“Not only could we not find people at the quality and the
quantity we needed, the few people that we found were not up to the global
standards that we need.”
The Moniepoint CEO said the company competes on a global
scale, particularly with firms from China, making it critical to recruit highly
skilled and globally competitive workers.
“We are not competing with just local players… I’m competing
globally. I need to make sure that I have world-class people working in the
organisation,” he said.
Eniolorunda attributed the talent gap partly to weaknesses
in Nigeria’s education system and changing social values among young people.
“I used to feel like Nigerians are really, really bright,
but I’m beginning to feel like we need to do something,” he said.
“I blame our education system and I’m realising that
environment shapes a lot of things from what we consume on social media to the
values shaping society.”
He expressed concern over the growing influence of internet
fraud and the get-rich-quick culture, which he said is affecting the
aspirations and mindset of young Nigerians.
“The level that people are reasoning in this country is not
as high as it used to be,” he added.
Eniolorunda also cited the increasing migration of skilled
workers from Nigeria, referred to as “japa” in local parlance, as a
contributing factor to the talent shortage.
“In a country of over 200 million people, there are many
alternatives to becoming a ‘big boy’ or chasing quick money,” he said.
“All we need to do is develop our human capital and change
the mentality.”
He said Nigeria must invest in human capital development and
provide alternative role models to steer young people towards building
sustainable careers.
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