Firstly, this article is important because youneed to know where the trends are flowing to if you want to remain relevant inlife and society. So you need to read to the end.
We are trying to become prophets and tell youwhat must happen but we are predicting the future with current data we have andformer trends we have seen.
PAST TRENDS
Let's start with the past trends of jobs inNigeria since independence.
In 1960, agriculture was the major source ofincome for the people and for the government. It provided food for the peopleand revenue for the government.
Helped in getting raw materials for otherindustries and export materials that generated foreign exchange.
In 1970, oil happened and we forgot aboutagriculture. Agriculture became the poor man?`s job and anybody doing it was notregarded highly.
Jobs started to change face. The trend nowchanged to people becoming technicians and engineers. The money gotten from oilhelped other sectors like education and civil service to grow rapidly. That waswhen Nigeria started fancying the idea of white collar jobs.
People graduated and got jobs immediately.Things were good for everyone.
In the 1980s, there was a global economicrecession and Nigeria was not ready to deal with such magnitude of poverty.Things receded because we were a major importing economy.
That was the era of Ghana-Must-Go? andStructural Adjustment Programme.
In the 1990s, people became wise and decided tofend for themselves. People started shooting
into different fields that theyhad passion and power to act on.Private jobs took off in areas of science andtechnology. It was now generally acceptable to say your full-time job is toplay football or act movie or any of the arts that were not before timeconsidered serious.
In the 2000s telecommunications entered andchanged the job landscape in Nigeria.
People became in love with telecommunications.Everybody wanted to work in MTN, Glo and the likes. Oil prices started risingagain so people also loved oil but people had gotten wise.
A lot of people were no longer waiting for thegovernment and the tides to turn in any way before they could survive. Peopletook their survival personal and took initiatives for their life.
That was when the entrepreneurship flu infectedeverybody. They sought out ways and created jobs that were previously noneexistent. They no longer waited. Seemingly awkward jobs started risingeverywhere.
Jobs like event management, digital marketers,waste recycling computer programming etc started springing up and the normalcitizens on the street were the people championing the cause.
FUTURE OF JOBS
It?`s getting worse and that is why we arewriting this. It's getting to the point where you are not just competing withlow jobs or other people, it has gotten to a point where you are also competingwith robots that are more efficient than you.
Think we are joking, visit willrobotstakemyjob.com to know how safe your job is in the coming years
Judging from past trends, we can predict somethings about jobs
- YOUR SURVIVAL DOES NOT COME FROM ANYBODY
Future jobs in Nigeria will not stem from thegovernment or your uncle. Look around you, take an online survey and you willfind out
that the bulk of people?`s work has virtually no connection with thegovernment or their relatives.The majority of jobs are jobs they gottenthrough an exhibition of skills and capabilities.
The tech sector with all the programming ofwebsites and mobile apps has had little or no input from the government and itis not somewhere you enter because your brother is the chairman. It is a placeyou enter because you have demonstrated your ability to deliver. We are talkingabout a billion dollar sector in Nigeria.
The film industry grew so big and the onlyinvolvement we can remember from the government is the Three billion Nairagiven to them from the last administration.
The big names you are hearing today are majorlypeople that didnt wait for the government to set up structures to help thembuild their business. They didnt wait for all to be ready before they startedworking and became successful.
Neither should you if you want to have a job.
The moment you start waiting for a federalcivil service job or that your uncle in Aso Rock to help you, you are alreadyshooting yourself in the foot.
Are we saying the government should set up businessesfor the citizens? No. We are saying that there is no structural help from thegovernment or enabling environment for businesses to thrive neither is there anassurance that your uncle will help you.
- PEOPLE ARE TAKING INITIATIVES AND THEY ARE NOTBETTER THAN YOU
The future jobs in Nigeria will be owned bypeople who have the same challenges you do yet decide to take the bull by thehorn and find jobs either by creating it or by becoming employees in one.
People in the past realized that they trustedin
the government so much and when the government made wrong choices anddecisions, the citizens were the worst hit so they decided to take initiativeand find their ways instead of waiting for someone to help their life.This also goes to say that creativity,doggedness, and leadership will be core skills needed for future jobs inNigeria.
- THE WORLD IS ALREADY MOVING ON AND PEOPLEWITHOUT THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE TRENDS WILL BE LEFT BEHIND SOON
Why are we taking off time from our very busyschedule to write this and inform you? Because we see thousands and millions ofpeople just moving around in life without knowing where they are heading to. Noknowledge of what happened, what is happening and what will happen.
People are still investing their life, money,and energy into something that is going extinct. It is synonymous to using allyour money to invest in VCR cassettes because that was the reigning thing inthe 90s and early 2000?`s so you feel an attachment to it.
We wrote a whole article on technologies thatare disrupting jobs all over the world here. It will be inyour best interest to read it if you want to know trends and disruptionshappening all over the world.
- THE LEADING JOBS ARE JOBS NOT CREATED BY THEGOVERNMENT BUT BY THE PEOPLE
Recently I came across a tweet that wasinvestigating to know the sectors and industries that are thriving in Nigeriaand among the sectors that where called (tech and entertainment) were sectorsthat are spearheaded by individuals and the private sector.
It actually turns out the government seems tobe their limiting factors.
The jobs of today are done by people who saw aneed in the society and decided to equip themselves to
solve them.They saw that companies no longer need in houseaccountants to fend off the tax man and they trained to be accountants.
They saw that companies are striving to get awebsite and they became web developers.
They saw that companies are looking forbusiness consultants to help them grow so they became consultants and the listgoes on like that.
The future jobs in Nigeria will be jobs thatare solving real-time needs and not just jobs where people go to the office,sit down and talk all day like is done in many government jobs.
Based on the information so far, we will belooking at some jobs that will dominate the future in Nigeria.
- Digital Marketing
Digital Marketers are people who help companiessell their goods and products online. They skillfully combine websites and thesocial media to showcase any product, service or idea to the people who need tohear them.
They produce and promote content thatadvertises a brand to their customers and they also manage the onlinereputation of the company
- Business Analysts
They see to the implementation and support ofbusiness systems. They look out for possible problems that may arise and makesure it does not cripple the business and also seek out opportunities forgrowth for the growth.
He or she also collaborates with otherdepartments to make sure the company is working smoothly.
This job is yet scarce in Nigeria but thedemand is quickly rising.
- Clean Energy Jobs
These are jobs that help install clean energylike wind and solar energy. Due to the inability of the National Electricity tosupply sufficient power to the country, people are now looking for alternativeclean energy that will
help them achieve their goals.- Software Developer
These guys develop software that helpsinstitutions reduce their workload and friction in the workplace.
They create websites, mobile applications,banking software?`s, school management systems, and a whole lot of things thatcan be done in an electrical appliance.
Out of all the jobs listed here, they arecurrently the highest earners.
The good thing is, you dont necessarily need adegree in any of these courses to get a job in these fields. Jobs like DigitalMarketing is not yet done by any university in Nigeria but the good thing isthat there are institutions on the ground in Nigeria that has gone ahead of thetrend to offer such courses and one of such (the best of such actually) isDigital Dreams Limited.
They also offer other wonderful courses thathelp you take advantage of the coming job trend.
With the future jobs in Nigeria changingdrastically from what it used to be, you need to position yourselfstrategically.
Article Written by Igboekwe Ebuka collins
If only we understand what is coming in the nearest future, we will probably start now to increase and equip ourselves with the necessary skills neede...