According to PwC Nigeria, a leading professional services business, remote work by Nigerian programmers and software engineers might bring in up to $50 billion from Global Value Chains (GVCs) in the next ten years.
This is true despite the fact that it was revealed that other nations, like Kenya, India, and a few others, were already actively engaging in the GVCs and importing brain capital from Nigeria.
Nigerian brain exports, according to a report by PwC titled “Nigerian Brain Exports: The Optimal Path to Growing the Nigerian Economy,” will put the country on the fast track to development.
According to the report, “brain export occurs when a Nigerian physically in Nigeria is inserted into global value chains and exchanges their brain capital for foreign currency which is then remitted to the country where the talent is physically located.”
Having a sizable population with an average age of just 19, it went on to say that Nigeria has a sizable intellectual capital advantage, especially in light of the ageing populations of nations like Germany, Japan, Italy, and the United States.
By 2060, there will be a 10% decrease in the world’s population of working age. With 28% of its population over 65, Japan in particular leads this list. Italy follows in second with 23%. Only 2.7% of Nigeria’s population is over 65, according to PwC, making Nigeria strategically positioned to provide labor to the global market and so offering a substantial competitive advantage.
PwC in the report states that: “With case studies of India and Kenya and a few local examples of companies already exporting Brain Capital from Nigeria and actively participating in the GVC’s, the report created a plausible scenario in which Nigeria captures 17% of the global programming and software development jobs. The earnings that will accrue to Nigerians performing these jobs is about $50 billion.”
“Nigeria can transition from a developing to a developed nation within 10 to 20 years. To achieve this however, the country must seek and follow a path different from the traditional development path. We believe that the traditional strategy for development is not the most efficient path to improve the quality of life for Nigerians.”Andrew Nevin, Partner & Chief Economist, PwC Nigeria
According to the research, Nigeria should start seeing education as an infrastructure for development rather than a social service. This is especially true for digital education, since interactions on screens have grown to be as important as reading and writing.
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