BusinessDay 21 Aug 2018

20
BUSINESS DAY
BDTECH
E-mail: jumoke.akiyode@businessdayonline.com
Could a tech-enabled GIG economy unlock
solutions to Nigeria’s employment deficit?
BINA IDONIJE Guest writer
18.8%. That is the
official unemployment
rate in Nigeria
as of 2017 according
to the National
Bureau of Statistics. Anecdotal
data off the street have
long contested the accuracy
and methodology of deriving
the country’s unemployment
numbers. Be that as it may,
what cannot be contested
is the fact that unemployment
and underemployment
contribute massively to the
country’s socio-economic
challenges.
Across the world, a
new type of labour force is
emerging. They are termed
“gig workers”; a derivative
categorization for persons
who make a living from the
“gig economy” ecosystem.
At a macro level, the gig
economy, refers to work carried
out outside the ambit
of what is considered traditional
employment, i.e. the
equivalent of an 8- 5 job in
Nigeria. It is mainly characterized
by the following key
attributes: i) short- term economic
arrangement between
the worker and the client;
ii) Compensation is tied to
specific tasks or projects, as
opposed to a regular salary,
and; iii) significant autonomy
on the part of the worker.
Taking these characteristics
into consideration, it would
seem disingenuous to postulate
that this is an emerging
labour force, as indeed,
these characteristics are
reflective of how work has
been carried out in the informal
labour sector since time
immemorial. So, you may
ask, what then is all this fuss
The federal government
has urged
youths to leverage
the knowledge of
Information Communication
Technology (ICT), to
become employers of labour,
so as to help tackle
the issue of unemployment
in the country.
This call was made in Ile
Ife, Osun state by the the
Permanent Secretary, Federal
Ministry of Labour and
Productivity, Ibukun Odusote,
while declaring open
3rd Ife Youth Economic
Summit and handover ceremony
of Ife Digital Job
L-R: Chioma Iwuchukwu-Nweke, general manager, Personal Health, Philips West Africa; Nicole Dix,
business marketing manager (Kitchen Appliance Africa), Philips Personal Health; Nneka Agbata, Philips
marketing officer, Personal Health West Africa and Justin Ugboro, partner account manager, Philips
Personal Health, at the Philips 2018 Resellers event held in Lagos recently
about a workforce which already
existed prior to being
attributed a fancy name like
“gig work force”?
The game-changing factor
is Technology.
Digital platforms are creating
online marketplaces
that efficiently connect providers
of services with buyers
of those services, in ways
that have the potential to
exponentially propel economies.
McKinseyestimates
that online talent platforms
could improve global GDP
by 2% by the year 2025, or
put financially, add $2.7 trillion
to global GDP. Global
platforms that are already
proving the ‘hype’ about the
gig economy include: Uber,
Deliveroo, Upwork, Task-
Rabbit and Catalant. These
platforms provide services
ranging from transport, to
food delivery, to profes-
Nigerian youths urged to create jobs from ICT
... As FG hands over Ife digital job centre to Ooni
BOLADALE BAMIGBOLA, Osogbo
sional services. Pretty much
anyone can sign up to render
their services, determine
their own working hours,
and earn money while being
their own boss.
Here in Africa, there are
digital market places such
as South Africa’s getTOD (an
innovative mobile application
offering on-demand
services for electricians,
plumbers, handy-men, tied
to the clients locality); Kenya’s
Mr. Green Africa (a
waste recycling venture that
leverages technology to empower
waste pickers to earn
a living); and Nigeria’s Jumia
J-Force (independent sales
consultants and logistics officials
who help to bridge the
internet access and e-commerce
gap by bringing the
online shopping experience
offline to those without access).
The ubiquity of mobile
Centre constructed by the
Federal Government.
Speaking at the event
with the theme: “Youth Unemployment
and the Challenges
of Enabling Empowerment
-The way forward
for Nigeria”, held in Oba
Okunade Sijuwade Memorial
Hall, Enuwa, Ile-Ife,
Odusote enjoined the participants
at the summit to
tap into the golden opportunity
that the ICT training
offers them to become entrepreneurs.
She disclosed that the
administration of President
Muhammadu Buhari would
continue to support innovation
and technology, stressing
that the priority encouragement
the administration
is giving to Science, Technology,
Engineering and
Mathematics is aimed at using
technology to stimulate
the economy.
Assuring the youth of
the federal government’s
preparedness to give them
social protection, she described
those ones among
them following politicians
as thugs as “compound
fool”, adding that government
would also ameliorate
the sufferings of the
unemployed youth by creating
more jobs.
Odusote then charged
the trainers on the need
devices amongst Nigerians
makes technology-enabled
marketplaces an even more
attractive venture. Picture
a courier delivery services
platform, where freelancers
can sign up to deliver packages
around their neighborhood
on the back of their own
transportation arrangements
and get paid a portion of the
delivery fees. Such a service
will likely provide cheaper
rates and faster delivery times
as compared to traditional
courier, given the factors of
scale and proximity.
Imagine a platform that
provides you as a client with
a repository of artisans such
as painters and carpenters
in your vicinity, gives you an
upfront view of their potential
fees, and shows how well
or poorly other users of their
services have rated them, to
assist you in making an informed
choice. Imagine also,
to teach the youths how to
market their products online.
She further disclosed
that government and its
agencies would purchase
products of Ife ICT to encourage
the participants.
In his remarks, Ooni
of Ife, Oba Enitan Ogunwusi,
charged youths in
the country to focus on
the new trends of technology,
adding that everybody
looks onto them for a better
future for the country.
The monarch reminded
the participants that the
era of total reliance on
government is gone, and
opined that, with focus and
resolve to be employers of
the improved reach such a
digital marketplace would
afford those artisans, who,
today, mostly rely on word
of mouth of their relatively
small circles, to get ‘gigs’.
Think of this arrangement
as the “organized informal
sector”.
In the midst of this optimism,
one must reckon that
for the average Nigerian, internet
access remains a significant
hurdle to meaningfully
participate in a digital
marketplace, and for startups,
the incessant malaise
of insufficient broadband
persists. Nigerian digital
platforms may want to consider
the opportunities that
lurk in leveraging sms/text
messaging as an alternative
tool in cognisance of the
aforementioned connectivity
constraints. Laudable
contributions from the likes
of Google Nigeria in looking
to provide access to free wifi
connection in over 200 locations
in the country are welcome
developments in this
regards.
The Gig economy, even
in advanced countries, is
still at nascent stages. Researchers
and Scholars
predict that the forthcoming
decades will see the
gig economy take a more
dominant spot in global labour
markets. The informal
labour sector in Nigeria is
overflowing with untapped
opportunities to create a cohesive
digital marketplace
for artisans, masons, hair
braiders, makeup artists and
the likes.
Bina Idonije is GE’s legal
counsel responsible for the
full spectrum of Labour &
Employment matters in Sub-
Sahara Africa.
labour by the vast youthful
populace Nigeria has, the
challenge of unemployment
could be effectively
contained.
In his goodwill address,
the Director General/CEO,
NITDA, Isa Ali Ibrahim
Pantami, established link
between ICT and employment,
saying the success
story of the Asian Tigers
could be traced to revolutionary
development in ICT.
He added that acquisition
of ICT skills has become
a global requirement
in employer-employee relations,
while the growth
and stability of the Nigerian
economy is dependent
Tuesday 21 August 2018
Patricia launches
innovative
e-commerce service
JUMOKE AKIYODE-
LAWANSON
Patricia.com.ng,
an information
and communications
technology
firm has introduced a new
e-commerce solution into
the Nigerian market.
The innovative service
allows individuals to
swap gift cards for cash
while also giving them the
opportunity to send gift
items to loved ones in the
United Kingdom, United
States of America,Canada
and some selected African
and European countries.
The ICT Company,
which recently opened
Room 19, an online luxury
clothing store, has been
described by industry
watchers as one of the
fastest growing e-commerce
firms in Nigeria
and Africa.
Speaking at the launch
of the new service in Lagos,
Hanu Agbodje, CEO/
founder of Patricia, said
the company would continue
to do things differently,
question the norms,
come up with innovations
tailored to make life easier
for Nigerians through
technology.
“At Patricia, we work to
change the world because
if we are to succeed, we
have to change how online
businesses are perceived
in Nigeria. Simply
put, our vision is to make
the e-commerce systemsafe
for all; to offer peace
of mind to people who do
business with Patricia”,
Agbodje assured.
on the employment of the
youths.
He advised participants
in the training to realize
that digital connectivity
would expose them to opportunities
in the global
economy and urged them
to tap into it.
Earlier, in his welcome
address, the Special Assistant
to Ooni Ogunwusi on
Youth Development and
Wealth Creation, Olamide
Awosunle disclosed that
this year’s 6 weeks ICT training
would afford 100 youth
selected across the state to
acquire ICT and business
skills that will make them
globally competitive.