Nigeria’s Engineering Skills Crisis: How Omolola’s ETIA is driving industry-ready training

Nigeria’s Engineering Skills Crisis: How Omolola’s ETIA is driving industry-ready training

In an interview with journalists, the director of Emma-Tob International Academy (ETIA) and founder of the Engineering Your Tomorrow (EYT) Summit reflects on that pivotal moment and the journey that followed.

“I was just having a calm conversation with my cousins who are studying engineering,” she recalled. “From a practical standpoint, I started asking questions, and I saw that they were struggling. And it is not their fault.”

For Omolola, the issue was not a lack of intelligence or academic exposure, but a structural disconnect in how engineering is taught and applied.

“When I started probing further, I realised there is a massive skills gap, both in tertiary and private institutions in Nigeria,” she said. “Having worked in the industry and understanding what a global level of engineering experience looks like, it stayed with me.”

That realisation became the foundation for ETIA, a training academy designed to bridge the divide between theory and real-world application.

“The vision is not just to educate and give you a certification. Many universities do that,” she explained. “What we want to do is give you a career that can sustain you and your family.”

The establishment of ETIA was not a solo effort. Omolola credits early conversations with her father, Pastor Emmanuel Omolola, Managing Director of Emma-Tob Engineering, as a turning point.

“I shared my ideas with him, and he said, ‘I’ve always wanted to do this. Let’s kick it off,” she said.

Today, ETIA operates as a hands-on training hub focused on five key engineering disciplines, areas she argues are critical to industrial growth but often underemphasised in traditional curricula. The academy delivers both foundational and advanced training.

The annual EYT Summit, now in its second edition, extends that mission by convening students, professionals and industry leaders to exchange ideas and confront the realities facing young engineers.

“EYT is a place to inspire, innovate and create impact in people’s lives,” she said. “It is also about asking difficult questions: how do students get jobs? How do they sustain themselves? These are real concerns.”

Beyond Certificates: The Employability Gap

At the core of Omolola’s intervention is a shift from education as an endpoint to education as a pathway to employability and productivity.

“We are not just training engineers to pass exams,” she said. “We are preparing them to function in real industries, solve problems and add value from day one.”

This perspective aligns with concerns raised by employers, many of whom argue that graduates lack both technical and soft skills required in the workplace.

Human resource professional Afolarin Afolayan, who participated in the summit, was direct in his assessment.

“Organisations are frustrated,” he said. “Many graduates lack mindset, attitude, and even basic skills like Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint. They understand theories but have little or no practical experience.”

He also highlighted the impact of migration on workforce stability.

“The ‘Japa’ trend is affecting talent retention. Companies invest in training, and people leave without clear long-term plans,” he added.

For industry leaders, the consequences of the skills gap are already evident. The chairman of the summit, Talla Fall, factory manager at Nestlé Nigeria, described the situation as a disconnect between knowledge and execution.

“It is not just what you know; what matters more is what you do with what you know,” he said. “Sometimes we receive engineers, but they cannot do anything.”

Drawing on nearly three decades of experience, Fall stressed the need for stronger collaboration between academia and industry.

“Education must not stop in the classroom. It must extend into workshops, industries and real-life environments,” he said.

He also pointed to Nigeria’s demographic advantage as both an opportunity and a responsibility.

“Our greatest resource is not oil. It is the young generation. If they are equipped properly, Nigeria and Africa will rise,” he added.

While the skills gap remains a pressing concern, rapid technological advancement is adding urgency. Keynote speaker Saheed Kareem, a factory engineering manager, underscored the growing influence of artificial intelligence (AI) in engineering and beyond.

“We are already living with AI, even if we don’t acknowledge it,” he said. “It is simulating human intelligence to solve real-life problems and reduce effort.”

From automated manufacturing processes to smart health devices and digital workflows, AI is redefining how work is done.

“It has become a mandatory skill for everyone to thrive. In the next five years, many processes will be fully driven by AI,” he said.

However, he also warned of associated risks, including cybercrime and ethical concerns, stressing the need for responsible adoption.

For students in attendance, the discussions validated lived experiences. Many acknowledged the limitations of classroom learning and called for earlier and more structured engagement with industry.

For Omolola, the challenge is significant but not insurmountable. What is required is deliberate collaboration and a willingness to rethink entrenched approaches to education.

“It is not enough to wish for change. We have to create it,” she said.

As Nigeria navigates youth unemployment, technological disruption and intensifying global competition, initiatives like ETIA and the EYT Summit are positioning themselves as part of the solution—through practical engagement rather than rhetoric.

“We are building engineers who are not just knowledgeable, but practical, innovative and globally competitive,” Omolola said.

Ultimately, the future of engineering in Nigeria will depend not just on what students learn, but on what they can do.