Telecom
Dearth of Manpower Bane of Telecom Development
Nigeria’s telecommunications industry is at a critical period in the quest for development. The sector has been bedeviled with quality of service issues, some of which are within the purview of the operators and others outside their control.
Some of the factors responsible for poor quality of services include congestion of the network by operators, as a result of insufficient capacity in the network.
It was against this backdrop that Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) banned two Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) operators from running promotions geared towards increasing their subscriber base.
Besides, there are challenges of inadequate infrastructure such as power and transmission backbone.
It is unfortunate that of the said causes of the present quality of service issue nobody is looking at vital issue that account for greater percentage of poor service delivery. This is the issue of shortage of manpower.
Skilled Manpower is the trained human resources required to run a business concern. In telecommunications, this trained manpower is required mostly in running the network such as maintenance, capacity deployment among others.
Nigeria CommunicationsWeek investigations revealed that GSM operators are facing shortage of skilled manpower in the engineering aspect of their business. This is responsible largely for the high drop calls experienced by subscribers.
When network operators rolled out service some seven years ago they engaged services of foreign expertise that are running their networks, as a result of huge cost associated with keeping these expertise and need to groom local manpower believed to be cheaper network operators started replacing some of their foreign expertise with local substitutes who are not well trained to handle high end network deployment and maintenance.
Telecommunication is a technology intensive industry and enhance requires high-level skilled manpower at all stages of its deployment. This includes research, manufacture, installation, operation and maintenance. A lot of research is required both in the development of the hardware components such as integrated circuits, thin film resistors, printed circuit boards, etc and also, in the process engineering required in manufacturing such components. For examples AT & T’s Bell Laboratories in the U.S.A at its peak in the 80’s employed over 3000 professors and academicians with PhD and MSc’s to conduct research on various fields of telecommunications. Majority of them are professors on sabbatical leave from top American universities like MIT, California Institute of Technology (CALTECH), University of California at Berkeley and Standard University. The laboratory boasts of over 30,000 patients. Nigerian universities and the Academia have unique opportunity to contribute to the development of telecommunications in Nigeria through the generation of new knowledge and also producing the right type of manpower for the industry.
Also the universities and polytechnics must equip the students with the right knowledge base that can match the requirement of the industry. There will definitely be need to modify and upgrade course curriculum in electrical/electronic engineering departments.
Engr. Ernest Ndukwe, executive vice chairman, NCC had explained at one of the telecom consumer’s parliament on quality of service that there is presently a dearth of skilled manpower in the rapidly expanding telecom industry. The frequent poaching of staff among telecom operators, sometimes through offer of higher salaries, is a clear evidence of this shortage. The coming of 3G he said and the subsequent need to expand the network will further aggravate the skills shortage. Independent engineers, financial management and technical consultants have an opportunity to bridge this skill gaps. Specifically, the Nigerian Society of Engineers should encourage its members to upgrade and sharpen their skills in order to supply the required manpower for the industry.
Operators will also be seeking to outsource some specialized functions like tower design, tele-traffic studies, power systems design, spectrum clearance, civil structures, plant maintenance, type approval certification, enterprises software, among others. 3G service introductions will definitely expand the need for these services and it is an opportunity for us to further develop and consolidate the service industry in Nigeria.
In the profile of all of the companies, there are high number of foreign engineers playing major roles in operations and maintenance.
These can be traced to the fact that the companies are new and still expanding their services, as soon as exchanges, transmission and remote stations are commissioned, all that is left is daily operations and maintenance which we are close to achieving, one would expect that the foreign engineer would transfer such responsibilities to local hands.
The call therefore is for our operators to begin a gradual integration process of having local engineers with the necessary skills to take-over the operations and maintenance of the networks.
Presently, there are many engineering graduates doing things that are unrelated to their area of training in order to keep soul and body together, and there are many others who are without employment. Operators should consider a management training scheme, under which young graduates from our universities and polytechnics would be employed as trainees; for a period of two to four years, in order to understand the systems and network, such that in the next three to five years we can have fully Nigerian companies, not only in terms of registration, but also in the area of manpower.
Under such a scheme, the trainees may be co-opted into project teams as part of the network roll out, and at the end, they would have knowledge of how things work and a full knowledge of the network profile.
In this regard, Mr. Gbenga Adebayo, chairman, Association Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (Alton) recommended that telecommunications operators should work with universities and polytechnics, to introduce the scheme, and identify the above-average students who would like to make career in telecoms, such students can be allowed to pass their industrial training with the companies and upon graduation commence a traineeship program, during which period they can be integrated into the operations of the company.
In the area of on-the-job and function specific improvement, we now have institutions like Digital Bridge Institution, Abuja that can offer training in various areas of Information and Communications Technology.
The scheme would go a long way to our manpower demands for now and the future. We can not afford to have an industry that is heavily depended on foreign hands; the implications are too many, both on our educational system, and on level of technological development.
We must have Nigerians playing significant role in the daily operations of various telecom company and that is the only way that can guarantee a truly Nigeria industry in the future.
African women remain among the most digitally excluded globally, with smartphone affordability and digital literacy among the key barriers. New data from the 2025 GSMA Mobile Gender Gap Report, launched recently, reveals a persistent global gender gap in mobile internet use across low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).
It further notes that literacy, digital skills, safety, and affordability of data also remain critical barriers. The report highlights that 885 million women across these regions still do not use mobile internet, with nearly 60% of them living in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.
While mobile internet is the primary way women in LMICs access the internet, offering critical lifelines to health, education, and financial services, the pace of female adoption has stalled, leaving 235 million fewer women than men connected.
Claire Sibthorpe, head of digital inclusion at GSMA, highlighted that the gender gap had narrowed significantly between 2017 and 2020, but progress flatlined in recent years.
Although 2023 brought a slight improvement, restoring the gap to 15%, 2024 saw minimal change, with the gap settling at 14%.
The disparity is most severe in Sub-Saharan Africa, where women are 29% less likely than men to use mobile internet.
“It’s disheartening that progress in reducing the mobile internet gender gap has stalled. The digital divide is driven by deep-rooted socio-economic and cultural factors that disproportionately impact women,” said Sibthorpe.
GSMA projects that closing the gender gap by 2030 could add $1.3 trillion to GDP across LMICs and deliver $230 billion in revenue to the mobile industry.
The report, funded by the UK FCDO, Sida, and the Gates Foundation, stresses the urgent need for targeted investment and policy action to bridge the digital divide and ensure that no woman is left offline.
“The mobile internet gender gap is not going to close on its own. It is driven by deep-rooted social, economic, and cultural factors that disproportionately impact women,” said Sibthorpe.
In a recent interview, MTN Nigeria reaffirmed that its ongoing infrastructure investment is a strategic step to improve network quality, speed, and nationwide coverage.
Speaking on Beyond the Headlines with Nifemi Oguntoye, Ugonwa Nwoye, Chief Customer and Experience Officer at MTN Nigeria, explained that although public concern is valid, the company undertook several internal cost-efficiency measures before making structural adjustments.
She emphasised that improved investment is critical to fast-tracking improvements across MTN’s network.
Nwoye explained that MTN undertook extensive internal reforms before embarking on structural changes needed to support this scale of investment.
The company completed its phased roll-out of the increase between February and March, ensuring that every existing data plan was below the 50% increase, and most remained below 25%.
She also noted that customers were proactively informed about all changes, particularly when certain legacy plans were retired and replaced with new ones. “We gave customers six to eight weeks’ notice,” she explained.
“This is why it has taken us some time to complete this process, where we let customers know that at a certain date, this particular tariff is not going to exist.”
Nwoye stressed that MTN had exhausted other internal measures before turning to broader structural updates. Now, with the new pricing structure in place, the company is accelerating its investment in infrastructure, spending over ₦200 billion in the first quarter of 2025 alone, a 159% increase from the same period last year. A total capital expenditure of ₦800 billion is planned for the year.
She noted that this investment is a direct outcome of long-term operational restructuring aimed at improving service quality.
She added, “We are investing over ₦800 billion this year alone in our infrastructure. This will translate into better customer experience, reduced congestion, faster internet speeds, and wider network reach.”
This investment will support the upgrade of over 1,000 cell sites and the expansion of more than 2,000 transmission links nationwide.
Nwoye stressed that these upgrades are designed to deliver faster data speeds, fewer dropped calls, and broader network reach, especially in underserved areas.
She acknowledged the public’s expectations for immediate service improvements but emphasised that large-scale infrastructure takes time to deploy.
Nonetheless, MTN expects customers to begin experiencing visible improvements in network performance by the second half of the year.
In a sector where service quality and customer satisfaction are closely watched, MTN maintains that its ongoing investments are not merely capital commitments but vital enablers of improved digital experiences across Nigeria.
Remita, the pioneering Nigerian payment technology platform developed by SystemSpecs, is charting a bold new course with its planned expansion into markets across Africa.
What began as a payroll feature in an HR application has now become a robust ecosystem processing over ₦60 trillion annually—one that stands on the verge of reshaping the continent’s fintech landscape, Mr. Deremi Atanda, Managing Director/CEO of Remita Payment Services Limited, says in an exclusive interview that will grace the cover of eGovernance Nigeria Magazine.
The forthcoming edition of eGovernance Nigeria Magazine, a publication of the Technology Times media brand owned and operated by Digital Transformation Media Limited (DTML), will spotlight this extraordinary journey, and present Remita’s evolution as an inspiring tale that informs, educates, and entertains readers about indigenous innovation making global strides.
“We’ve become an ecosystem of rails, products, and services—robust,” Atanda, Managing Director/CEO of Remita explains during the exclusive interview with eGovernance Nigeria Magazine.
“Layering all of that with the many different customers we’ve had, typically every year we process in excess of maybe ₦60 trillion in transactions in Nigerian Naira. And this can only grow, especially as we begin to think of a vibrant Pan-African expansion. We’re at the fringe of that.”
In a compelling narrative that mixes grit, vision, and innovation, Atanda recounts Remita’s early days. “What many people know today as Remita actually started out as a feature within our HR/payroll application.
“You process salaries, and you just want to pay—so just remit salaries. And by the way, that’s where the name ‘Remita’ came from: Remittance. We just took out one ‘T’ and left it at ‘A.’”
Even the company’s logo carries symbolism of that transformation. “I don’t know if you’ve seen our logo—it has three dots, in ascending size. There are many stories in that logo. It started as a feature, and then we brought it out as a product,” Atanda explains.
Yet the road was not without its bumps. “The first time we brought it out as a product was to bid for the National Pension Commission. This was in 2004, with the PenCom Act.
“We packaged this into a product in less than two weeks to take care of end-to-end pensions as it was conceived. Trust me, that vision is still viable today. But we lost that bid.”
Undeterred, SystemSpecs pivoted. “We went back and said, ‘What do we do with this asset?’ If it’s not going to work for pensions, let it become a product. And that’s how we renamed pensions.com.ng as Remita, and it became a product.”
As demand grew, Remita expanded beyond payroll. “Some people want to do their own payroll and just make payments, so let them have a site to go to. Later, it evolved into not just payroll payments. People wanted to do other types of payments. If you want to do non-salary payments, you go to Remita,” he says.
Today, Remita has fully matured into a standalone company. “So those three things—feature, product, company. That’s been the evolution.” With a Tier 1 licence from the Central Bank of Nigeria, Remita is now a fintech powerhouse. “We do switching, we do payment service provisioning, we do super agency, we do terminals—everything you can think about. We provide some basic services within the payment space, including payment service advisory.”
A lesser-known chapter of Remita’s growth includes building Nigeria’s first account-to-accountswitch. “Before TSA, we had built a rail—Nigeria’s first account-to-account switch, worked with all the banks. Not many people know that story. Account-to-account. The front of it, the application, and the rail—first of its kind.”
On the pivotal Treasury Single Account (TSA) deal with the Federal Government of Nigeria, Atanda reveals, “TSA was a happenstance. The government was looking to solve a problem, and we were looking to get regulated. It’s that term people use—when they say ‘luck,’ it’s just preparation meeting opportunity.”
Reflecting on the journey, he adds, “These have been some of those moments where you feel validated, where the visionary leadership that set the business up feels the vision is being realized.”
Today, Remita employs over 300 Nigerians and looks beyond its home shores. “The vision is huge, and we’re committed to that. So, we see exponential growth, and we’re positioning for that.”
Mr. Shina Badaru, Chairman of DTML, says Remita’s story is an inspirational example of local innovation with global relevance. “Remita’s success highlights the critical role of indigenous technology solutions in redefining Africa’s digital economy,” he says.
“As the cover story of the next issue of eGovernance Nigeria Magazine, we aim to showcase how homegrown innovation is not only solving problems locally but is also poised to transform markets across the African continent.”
According to Badaru, “Remita’s inspiring journey connects seamlessly with our article of faith to continue to showcase Nigeria’s growing contributions to the global technology industry.”
eGovernance Nigeria Magazine is a flagship DTML platform with operations across print, digital, TV, events, and e-commerce channels.
“This feature not only celebrates Remita’s evolution,” Badaru adds, “but also signals a pivotal shift in the narrative of Nigerian and African technology—from survival to scale, from local impact to continental transformation.”
As Remita sets its sights on Africa, it is poised to bring financial inclusion, digital infrastructure, and innovative fintech solutions to new and underserved markets. With a strong foundation and visionary leadership, the company is ready to deliver the next phase of its remarkable journey.
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