Nigerian tech entrepreneur, Iyinoluwa Samuel Aboyeji believes Nigeria should be the labour capital of the world, citing that the country is the second lowest wage market globally, after Pakistan.

Aboyeji made the claim in an interview on Seun Okinbaloye's Mic On Podcast over the weekend.

According to him, one of the primary reasons Nigeria is not the labor force capital of the world is due to the misplaced focus of past leaders. He also noted that the country lacks the necessary infrastructure to drive this agenda.

Citing an example, he said Nigeria does not have a two-thousand-capacity hall to host talented and productive Nigerians in one sitting.

He said: "Nigeria is the second lowest wage market in the world after Pakistan. We are way cheaper than India, way cheaper than China.

"America cannot take all these labour-related jobs to China because they are expensive and they are enemies. We are supposed to be sucking in all of this. The world's labour force. Yes, we are supposed to be the world's labour force.

"Number one is we are not focused. I won't lie to you, if I was the president, I would not do anything else. I would just say, look, young people, go and learn how to use AI so you can work on the global economy. Everything else is on hold. If it was me, we're not focused enough. We're not looking at the data so we can be focused enough. That's the first thing."

He further identified the lack of infrastructure as a significant obstacle, stating, "The second reason, we don't have the infrastructure for mass work. Do you know there is no facility in this country where you can comfortably put 2,000 people to work at the same time on the same network? There's nowhere. And what would be needed to do that doesn't take much. It is buildings. Build buildings, put internet, and make it easy for people to access those buildings."

Aboyeji referenced other countries that have successfully built infrastructure to accommodate mass workforces.

"In other countries with less traction than we currently have in remote work, they build entire campuses. You go to India, you go to Hyderabad, you see entire campuses. Go to Ukraine, entire campuses."

On the issue of skill acquisition, Aboyeji emphasized the need to move from theoretical training to practical skilling.

"The last thing is skilling. The truth of the matter is we do a lot of training, not skilling. They are two different things. Skilling means you're taught how to use the skill to deliver work. It’s not practical enough. It's not hands-on. It's not tied to real employment goals," he explained.