250 Foreign Jobs await Nigerians as NATEP Signs MOU to Support Talent Export
Not less than 250(Two hundred and fifty) foreign jobs are awaiting Nigerians courtesy of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU)signed by the National Talent Export Programme (NATEP).
A statement signed by Dr Femi Adeluyi, National Coordinator, National Talent Export Programme (NATEP) said the development is in line with the Federal Government’s aim to forge mutually beneficial partnerships with nations and global institutions to facilitate the provision jobs for Nigerians.
The statement further said the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr. Doris Uzoka-Anite, supervised the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signing ceremony between the Ministry and UTEL Ltd. to connect Nigerians to foreign jobs in Kuwait, Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and Scandinavian countries, among others.
The MoU which was signed on the 21st of May 2024, will be executed by the National Talent Export Programme (NATEP).
The signing of the MoU marks another milestone in our efforts to ensure that Nigerians have access to quality employment opportunities.
These employment opportunities could be direct employment and emigration of our talent or utilisation of the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) model for gainful and meaningful employment for those based in Nigeria. Through NATEP, Nigeria can honourably export her talents in a mutually beneficial and reputation preserving way, putting an end to illegal migration and the embarrassment therefrom to the country.
The MoU was signed with UTEL Ltd, a Nigerian subsidiary of Unique Agency Kuwait- a leading provider of expatriate employees for the government agencies and departments in the State of Kuwait. The partnership with UTEL to aggregate foreign jobs for Nigerians from Kuwait and other Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries.
Nigerians in diaspora are known to rise like cream to the top of their professions and data validates this notion. For example, research from the Migration Policy Institute Washington-DC, indicates that more than have of Nigerian immigrants (54%) are likely to occupy management positions, compared to 32% of other immigrants and 39% of the US-born population. Similarly, the 2021 Office for National Statistic Report from the United Kingdom (UK) showed that 44% of adult residents born outside the UK have some form of qualification, compared to 31% of UK-born residents, while 66% Nigeria immigrants have received one form of qualification or another. It goes to show the level of quality that Nigerians can bring to the table.
In efforts to promote talent and services export, as well as managed migration, the MoU specified a “1+2” approach for the partnership. With this approach, for every Nigerian that is selected for a foreign job through NATEP, the partners will commit to helping connect an outsourced role to the Nigerian BPO ecosystem and also support in the training a Nigerian to refresh the local workforce.
In addition to the Honourable Minister, other dignitaries at the event included the Mr. Athbi Hussein Al Awadi (from Kuwait); Mr. Tahir Saleh Hashim (from Oman); and Advokat Torgeir Knutsen (from Norway), among others.
The Honourable Minister concluded the ceremony by assuring the partners that Nigeria is fully committed to upskilling its talent pool to power the industrial revitalization plan of the Federal Government and to also provide skilled citizens for global talent opportunities.
Present at the epic occasion were Ambassador Florin Talapan, Romanian Ambassador to Nigeria, Ambassador Nura Abba Rimi, Permanent Secretary, FMITI and Chief Host, Ambassador Faruk Yabo, Chairman/CEO of UTEL, Mr. Athbi Hussein Al Awadi (from Kuwait), Mr. Tahir Saleh Hashim (from Oman), Advokat Torgeir Knutsen (from Norway), Dr. Afiz Ogun, DG, ITF, Mr. Foluso Akinlonu, Director Legal FMITI and Dr. Press, FMITI.
