Nigeria, Netherlands, Nearshoring: assessing Nigeria’s remote ICT potential

This report examines whether and how Nigeria can serve as a credible source of digital talent for Dutch Information and Communications Technology (ICT) firms, a positive element that can be integrated into broader migration partnership frameworks. Situating Nigeria in the wider Dutch policy debate on labour shortages and international talent, it combines ecosystem analysis, insights from interviews with public and private actors, and survey data from Nigerian ICT students to move beyond generic claims about opportunity.

The study maps the structure and maturity of Nigeria’s digital economy, identifies where market ready talent actually emerges, and analyses the role of government programmes, private intermediaries, and diaspora actors in building capability and signalling reliability.

The report Nigeria, Netherlands, Nearshoring: assessing Nigeria’s remote ICT potential was written by Robin Neumann, Eilyaa Abdin, Warner ten Kate with external authors Victoria Manya and Akinyinka Akinyoade, and was published in Clingendael Report Nearshoring series, 4 March 2026.

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Author(s) / editor(s)

Neumann, Abdin, Manya, and Akinyoade

About the author(s) / editor(s)

Robin Neumann and Eilyaa Abdin are researchers at Clingendael, Warner ten Kate is Migration Programme Lead at Clingendael.

Victoria Manya is a PhD candidate at the African Studies Centre Leiden (ASCL) and is working on a research project in inclusive innovation entitled ‘The African Start-up Ecosystem: funding, informality, gender inclusivity and the trajectories of maturity’.

Akinyinka Akinyoade is a senior researcher at the ASCL. His research activities pay special attention to fertility dynamics and pioneering futures of health in West Africa; migration process in Africa; inclusive development (productive employment in Nigeria and Kenya), and entrepreneurship in Africa.

Full text, catalogue, and publisher website

Publisher website: 
Clingendael - the Netherlands Institute of International Relations

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Posted on 12 March 2026, last modified on 12 March 2026