By: Tunji Okunlola
Human resources professionals play a central role in Nigeria’s target of a $1tn economy by 2030, according to industry experts, who say success will hinge on investment in artificial intelligence, employee skills, talent retention, and workplace productivity.
The experts said growth will depend not only on government policy and investment but also on how well businesses train staff, increase output, and generate the revenue that drives broader economic activity.
They spoke on Thursday in Lagos at the seventh edition of the HR Power Circle, organised by employee management technology firm EaziPay. Participants called for more investment in human capital and a fresh look at workforce management as AI changes the workplace.
EaziPay’s Co-founder and CEO, Asher Adeniyi, was represented by Head of Marketing and Strategy Fortune Kolawole. He said HR professionals help companies hire and keep the talent needed to raise productivity and support growth, and that the event was meant to give them insights from industry leaders on improving performance. He said more productive businesses make it easier to keep pace with the government’s efforts toward the target. Companies, he added, must retain their best people, pay them fairly and ensure they contribute effectively.
The Federal Government aims to grow the economy to $1tn by 2030, a goal that will require sustained expansion in business activity, investment and productivity, and that partly depends on Nigerian businesses scaling up despite a difficult operating environment.
Emmanuel Faith, Founder of HR Clinic and Lead, Employee Life Cycle, at Moniepoint, said workforce development is one way businesses can contribute. He explained that the $1tn figure is built from the revenues and profits of individual organisations, and that HR professionals are central to building employees’ capacity to generate that revenue. Business activity also supports government finances through taxes and other statutory deductions, he said, and training and capacity-building programmes help people participate more effectively in the labour market.
On AI, Adeyemi Ajayi, Head of Human Resources at Synlab Nigeria, said investment in people, capacity development and knowledge management will matter more as firms adopt new technologies. He said AI is not meant to replace people, but workers must develop the skills to use it to improve efficiency and productivity. He urged everyone who manages people, not just HR staff, to prioritise capacity building, with mentoring and coaching playing a key role. He also said organisations should train staff to use AI tools to automate routine tasks and free time for judgement, leadership and strategic thinking, rather than focusing mainly on job losses.
Oluremi Akinfaderin, Head of People Operations at FourthCanvas, said every economy is tied to work and to the talent that creates value, so businesses need to rethink how they manage people as the nature of work changes. She advised using AI to speed up growth without discarding employees.
The experts also warned that AI efficiency gains should translate into higher productivity and business growth, not merely less time and fewer resources spent on tasks. Adeniyi said companies should ask how to reinvest the time and money AI saves, since focusing only on finishing tasks faster risks missing the technology’s wider opportunities. He argued that freed-up resources should go into activities that improve productivity and support expansion.
Taken together, the speakers’ message was that technology adoption and human capital development should go hand in hand.
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