Dr Femi Adeluyi is the pioneer national coordinator of the National Talent Export Programme (NATEP) saddled with the ambitious role of creating one million out-sourcing and export jobs for Nigerians. Adeluyi comes from the tech world where he worked as Lead Expert (Communications and Information), National Commission for UNESCO Nigeria and Assistant Director at NITDA Nigeria.
He was called to head NATEP which was launched by President Bola Tinubu at the side event of the 2023 United Nations General Assembly (UNGA). In this interview with Philip Ukpe of THE WHISTLER, Adeluyi shares how he has leveraged his expertise to broker outsourcing and export jobs for Nigerians and create lasting partnerships with stakeholders in the US and Kuwait and how foreign exchange earnings of beneficiaries will increase states’ Internally Generated Revenue.
EXCERPTS:
At the Sideline of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), the Minister Representing President Bola Ahmed Tinubu launched the NATEP in September 2023. What is the journey so far?
This is about one year since it was launched on the 22nd of September. The whole idea of the establishment of NATEP is to catalyse the creation of jobs. In the first instance, we’re targeting the unambitious one million jobs over five years. And how do we want to get those jobs? We want to get those jobs through either of two channels. The first channel is through business process outsourcing, where people within the country work for organizations outside. The second channel is through actual physical talent export. The jobs we’re targeting are many jobs that are outside the country. And the reason is that we want to also be able to get foreign exchange into the country as a result.
We met the stakeholders one after the other to sell the vision, to get their buy-in, and to see how we implement the program in a way that will comply with global best practices. So, we identified a number of sectors we can focus on. I came up with a very catchy phrase called I-M-P-A-C-T sectors with the acronyms of the sectors that won’t focus on. I-M-P-A-C-T is for Insurance, Medical, Professionals, Artisans, Creative Sector and Technology.
For outsourcing. So far, we have an MoU with Lab Four, based in Memphis, Tennessee, USA to help us with 50,000 jobs over three years, mainly IT-related jobs and virtual assistants. For the talent export, a company from Kuwait had gotten the buy-in and approval of their own Federal Executive Council to come to Nigeria to recruit people. Their CEO came and somebody told him about NATEP. He said instead of trying to go through different agents, he would adopt a government programme that supports this and ensures the credibility of the people. And so, they came over in June 2024 for us to have a partnership, and with this and that partnership, we’re going to be getting people exported to Kuwait, not just Kuwait, the Gulf countries, and not just the Gulf countries, even the Scandinavian countries.
Some people feel, why are you exporting talent? Is it like slave trade? Is it like you’re trying to get people out like brain drain? But the thing is this. So, first of all, let me say one of the things I will try to do to make sure that this is balanced. We came up with a strategy we call one plus two. And what does it mean? For everyone that is exported through the jobs that we facilitate, it does matter, There must be an effect that benefits two people. Countries like India have the clout in information technology today, because 30 years ago, the outsourcing industry started.
How many Nigerians have gotten these jobs, or are they still on paper?
We’re doing something that is going to really transform this country, so at this stage, we’re doing a lot of digging, we’re making sure that we’re putting things in place we’re making sure that you know we’re getting the partners to trust us because the potential that we have is not in doubt. We’ll have to make sure that the partners trust us and that we can deliver quality value for them. So, we’ve signed MOUs with Lab Four, 50,000. I went to visit the place and I had a feel of the type of requests they are having from companies that need workers. The Kuwaitis started with 250 and we’re still aggregating the people, but there are many more in the pipeline, thousands yearly and so on. With the San Francisco, African-American Chamber of Commerce, we’re working almost having daily calls and meetings because what they want to do there is going to be massive. We’re getting them to see that we’re reliable, dependable partners. My minister, Dr Doris Anite, gets in touch with me regularly. I have visited a number of the top Silicon Valley companies.
For the Lab Four, we have already onboarded a number of the Business Process Outsourcing (BPOs). The BPOs are business process outsourcing companies across the country. We have in Kano, we have some in Lagos, we have in Abuja, we have just across the country and they’ve been onboarded and they have been going through training by the Lab Four team. Lab Four have placed their request. But we don’t want to rush into it. We also want the economy to prosper. Many people that are working remotely now. How many people are paying taxes? We want it properly. We want a proper system that we’re not just focusing on side jobs. And it’s just that you are working remotely. It’s like you have a full-time job. You have leave time. You have medical insurance. You have a maternity period that you can still be paid. So, proper jobs because if you want to build something really great, the structure is very important. We need systems and structure. And that’s what we’re doing at the moment.
How many candidates have applied, and how soon will beneficiaries travel or begin the outsourcing jobs?
To be honest, I’m the one slowing it down. They wanted the first set to go maybe some weeks, two weeks ago, I said, no. I want to make sure we properly scrutinise the people. I want to make sure we increase the pool so that people will just go together. So, I believe by next month, all factors being equal. The first instance is like 250 and we have gotten some requests. We want to do them together, get them properly documented and they will go. On the talent exports, Nigerians go abroad, sometimes they’re treated anyhow, we’re not going to take that. I was especially tough on them because I want them to know that Nigerians who come there must be treated with utmost respect and will not take anything less. So, we’re going to have something called Talent Export Facilitating Institutions (TEFI).
The idea is every Nigerian that has been sent out by NATEP will not be alone. We want to come and check them regularly to make sure whatever has been agreed by the employer is what we’re given. For example, some of the jobs in Kuwait that are supposed to provide them accommodation, some of their schools provide them accommodation and feeding, some accommodation, feeding and transportation. We want to make sure that it’s done. We want to make sure that it’s not just any casual place that you will just put them and say they have provided accommodation. As they register here, we notify the embassy. So, when they arrive, people are there to receive them, they have that sense of belonging. It’s not business as usual. It’s not just what agents do, they just call them on and say, no, that’s not what we want. We want them to go there with dignity.
We have gotten a pool of candidates that have applied already, I mean, going to the region of maybe like 5,000. People have applied, whether directly through the NATEP platform, or some of our partners that have their own pool. The part with the Kuwaitis, the first set of people are about to go. We’re just trying to make sure that the people we are sending out are our ambassadors.
During the signing of the MoU with Lab Four, the minister said the ministry would seek state governors to participate in the programme. How many governors are supporting this initiative?
So, we’ve been reaching out to them. Incidentally, I was with the representative of a governor in the North East yesterday. Last week, a commissioner from the South-South came to visit. So, we’re reaching out to them and when we get things in place, they will be very interested, because we’re doing it in such a way that every state that has a BPO and workers working there, every worker that is working there, their personal income tax goes to that state. It will be automatic IGR for them. I saw a report that was talking about the IGR of some states. I started calculating based on some of the partnerships we have in place, I said if some of these governors have even a few thousands of the people that want to provide jobs for work in their state, what those people bring in annually is going to exceed many of their current IGR, and the funds will be coming in in Forex. It helps them. It helps the economy. It’s challenging, I won’t lie, but the excitement of the possibilities keeps us going.
What are your projections for the programme and how do you see it bridging the unemployment gap by the end of 2024?
By the end of this year, we would have kicked off the Lab Four jobs. We’ll have had the people going to Kuwait and the other countries. We’ve even had some other partners that came that, you know, want to help us catalyse the movement of people and provision jobs that are going to be outside and so on. So, those things should be in place and then I’m really, we’re really expecting that after this UNGA and our discussions with the San Francisco team, we’ll be able to have a clear roadmap by December that gives those big numbers where we’re expecting them from, what the overall strategy is for.
By December, we’ll have gotten into that fast-moving train. And so, I advise everyone to buckle their belts and get on board. We’re really optimistic. The groundwork that has been done has been intense. The goodwill has been awesome. What we’re trying to do is to almost like, in the words of our first partner, and Lab Four, democratize the issue of BPOs. We want people to just have species that they can convert to be so that when you are going to work, you’re going just somewhere close to your house. I encourage Nigerians to put their trust in our president and the minister.
