The Fourth Industrial Revolution is here. Automation, artificial intelligence and other technological advances associated with it have started changing the nature of work globally. The technological train is moving on the fast lane and it would be better if Africans catch-up with it. The workplace will undergo significant change in the coming years. It is those African countries that prepare their citizens for it that will reap its benefits. Africa’s greatest challenge will be how to create enabling environment and right policies for its future generations to maximise gains from the industrial revolution.
Whether we like it or not, the fourth industrial revolution will determine the type of jobs that will be available in Africa in the next decade; how and where people will work; and what African governments need to do to prepare its future workforce for higher performance and productivity.
Nigeria is the main concern of this writer with respect to the future of work in Africa. If Nigeria could do well technologically and economically, it would spur most African countries towards development. Regrettably, an assessment of human capital in Nigeria is below par. Why? Quality of education is still below acceptable standards. One wonders why elected and appointed officials of governments at local, state and federal levels are not having sleepless nights about the state of affairs in the education sector of the country.
Education is a critical factor for improving the quality of human resources for developing new skills, cultural and behavioral values needed in the industry. With technology changing rapidly, it is the general level of educational attainment in Nigeria that gives an implicit indication of its technological capability. Technology will influence the workplace of the future and impact positively on the education system, if Nigeria is interested in developing technologically.
Yet the number of out-of-school children keeps increasing. Most Nigerians are extremely poor and as a result their standard of living is grossly compromised. This category of Nigerians does not have access to good medical facilities. Overall, the country’s human capital is weak.
An important requirement for the fourth industrial revolution is talent attraction and retention. Most of our talented citizens are moving to Europe, Canada and America in search of greener pastures. Instead of undertaking comparative analysis that will put Nigeria’s human resources in context, we isolate personalities who have achieved excellence in foreign organisations and research institutions including internationally acclaimed scientists, engineers, lawyers and writers to generalise that Nigerians are not doing badly. Yet, we have millions of illiterates and unemployed youths.
There is a general belief that most Nigerians who excel in the international arena have done so because of their education and experience abroad. This writer differs slightly from this belief. Not all Nigerians who succeed abroad were raised there. In fact, some of them grew up in Nigeria and went abroad to further their education, came back home and they have been doing well. There are those who have not schooled or lived abroad and have reached the peak of their professional career.
Environment is a complex totality of many things. The role of environment is so great that it affects our society and people’s behavior. We have witnessed instances where environmental degradation affects human capital investments through negative health effects. The implication is that poor environmental quality slows economic growth due to negative impact on human capital.
We have equally observed to a large extent that our environment does not open doors of opportunities for many people to achieve their dreams because of the “Nigerian factor”. As a result, many of us are caught in between patriotism and survival.
But we have seen quite a large number of Nigerians who have displayed their skills in doing things well. While others become quite good at something even when they do not have much talent, but they are willing to work hard at the skill. The emphasis here is that Nigeria must not be allowed to die an intellectual death if truly we are going to take active part in the fourth industrial revolution.
Nigeria cannot continue to have an unenviable reputation as a politically unstable society. A society where we have inferior elections and insecurity occasioned by banditry, kidnapping, religious riots and tribal conflicts, all converging at a critical point in our national life to create a state of perpetual political instability will not augur well for development.
In fact, the question is not merely that of a conflict between the survival of democracy and authoritarian rule but one of competence in national economic management; rationality and predictability in policy; acceptability and trust at home and within the international investment community; respect for the rule of law; human rights and property rights; freedom of expression; accountability and transparency in governance.
Political stability is crucial for technological and economic developments as it makes it possible to take long term strategic decisions needed to transform the society. It would also, enable the country to undertake institutional reforms and to create the environment that will help to attract international investors. One may be wondering why political stability is related to technological and economic developments. The crux of the matter is that Nigeria is now negatively perceived by local and international investment communities as one of the risky countries to invest.
In all these, Nigerians are frustrated and their frustration is better seen from the standpoint of the workplace. Most workers generally take to work their cognitive traits, cultural values, social norms, traditionalism, expectations, frustrations and indeed their entire background.
Because of the need for survival, rather than the desire to be patriotic, you find some people in high and low places of the society carry a baggage of characteristics to the workplace which fundamentally are anti-industry. Add to all these is the capacity of a few Nigerians for deceit, corruption, insubordination and one begins to appreciate that the quality of most of our workforce is probably of the negative genre.
We must manage our diversity, ensure gender equality and inclusion for future generations to be part of this industrial epoch. We must develop a culture that supports technology. This is because technology is culture-using, culture-dependent and culture-generating. Leadership has a significant role to play in all of these. (To be continued).
MA JOHNSON
