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The Nigerian technology industry can be considered as the country’s new oil and Lago, the centre of Nigerian technology is seen as Africa’s Silicon Valley. According to Business Day, Nigerian tech startups raised $663.2 million in funding from various local and international venture capitals in 2019.

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Recently, the Nigerian technology space is fast becoming a goldfield likeable by all. This comes particularly with the flourishing fintech companies such as Paystack, Patricia, Abeg, flutter wave, risevest, piggyvest, all developed by Nigerians. Now, everyone sees potential in the tech space as an enabler of decent work and economic growth. They want their slice of the delightful cake. The characteristics of work culture and setting of the Nigerian tech space mixed with the progress and growth potential of the emerging and booming sector have made the sector prone to certain weaknesses. These weaknesses can be infrastructural, policy-related, and manpower inadequacy. The following are challenges hindering the blossoming of the Nigerian technology industry.

Inadequate Manpower: The human body is prone to wear and tear. The long work hours in the technology h sector deters people from taking up tech careers. Burnout, stress, and fatigue are problems facing manpower in the Nigerian tech space. This causes job dissatisfaction, anxiety, anger, mood swings, and even depression amongst tech workers and entrepreneurs. Workers are required to work long hours, especially remote workers who work endlessly without breaks as there is no standardized work time. This results in talent drain in the long run.
Harsh Government policies and regulations: Government policies are not technology-friendly. Most of their policies seem like they are geared toward hindering innovation in Nigeria’s fast-growing tech space. Major fintech startups have come under clampdown due to government restrictions on cryptocurrency transactions. A federal high court has granted orders to freeze accounts of fintech stock trading platforms, Risevest, Bamboo, Trove, and Chaka for six months. The Twitter ban which went on for several months resulting in massive losses by companies and individuals is also proof that our government perhaps is anti-development. Also, a new bill by the Federal Government will make the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) have the power to license and tax technology companies. These government regulations bring a huge challenge for the tech start-up founders, investors, and workers. This discourages investors to stay in Nigeria. They are concerned and are beginning to drive away from the country because of the regulatory acts.
Insecurity: Insecurity is a social problem that has besieged Nigeria. From terrorist attacks, robberies, kidnapping, extortion bandits to unknown gunmen. Nigeria’s security keeps plummeting. The nature and culture of the tech industry allow tech experts not to follow the norm of the corporate work dress code. Thus, they are free, wild, and unusual with their outfits: they keep dreads, wear shorts to their respective workspace and move around with gadgets. This causes Police brutality and extortion to affect tech workers. The Nigerian police often mistake them as cybercriminals popularly known as Yahoo boys. They are constantly harassed, extorted, and detained for corrupt reasons.

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Poor Electricity: Inadequate electricity is another major problem facing the tech firms in Nigeria. Oftentimes, these firms incur additional costs when they resort to an alternative means of generating electricity for their firms outside the country’s supply. This would mean a shortage of funds that could be invested in the growth of their firms.
Funding: Tech firms in Nigeria complain of the difficult process they undergo to obtain loans from banks. It is not news that the banks in Nigeria are always reluctant about loaning to small enterprises for fear of bad loans, this makes it tougher for startup tech firms to convince the banks that they are trustworthy. Even the high-interest loan rates discourage startups to lend money from banks or other corporate bodies.
Poor Internet Quality: Although Nigeria has the largest number of online users in Africa, the quality of internet services in the country is still poor. The reason for the penetration of internet services across the country is that there is an increase in the number of those who use mobile data over broadband connection users. While mobile data can work effectively for an individual, it cannot serve large organizations or businesses that require a lot of people to be online at the same time. Even with the recent innovation of 5G, the 4G network is still popular because the 5G network has not been activated yet.

The challenges faced by the tech space in the country all lie within the environment, and so, their possible solutions are not far-fetched from the environment. The government needs to be consistent with regulating policies that would encourage tech firms for a change, and not appear like a killjoy working hard to frustrate the talents that should sprout from the country’s tech space. This will cause investors and tech experts to move back to Nigeria. Solving the problem of insecurity will cause the economy to thrive and pull back companies that have exited Nigeria to return. The operating environment can be friendlier to innovations and creativity with the kind of policies created by the government. The solution to the finance problem would be the creation of more fintech companies that would financially include all tech firms in the country. The banking sector also needs to be slack on the difficult processes of obtaining loans, the government can step in by incorporating policies that would encourage different payment methods asides from cash. Almost every day, new tech-driven people invade the tech space with ideas that promise to drive wealth into the nation’s economy with less manual effort. This global revolution must be encouraged, and this new world should be embraced. Featured image: Businessday NG

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This article was first published on 29th January 2022 and updated on January 30th, 2022 at 8:23 pm

eyimegwu-ekene

I am an accomplished content creator and recently delved into technical writing. I enjoy using my skills to contribute to the exciting technological advances and create awareness of evolving technological trends in Nigeria.