Last week we announced a series where we would follow what Nigerian developers are doing and understand the growth and faults of software development in Nigeria. For the first edition, I had the privilege to chat with Emeka Afigbo, Program Manager at Google Nigeria. We went from personal stories to the situation of software development in Nigeria.
Meeting And Background
Let’s get to know you
My name is Chukwuemeka Afigbo. I work as Program Manager at Google in the outreach team for emerging markets. I am based here in West Africa. I work out of Lagos but my activities take me around Africa and other emerging markets.
Can we know a little about your background?
I studied Electronic Engineering at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. Immediately after school, I got to work in a startup called Socket Works and I was there for six years. I grew with the company from when it was just a couple of guys writing code in a parlour to when it became a company that cut across Africa with a project in Asia. I left Socket Works right about the time I got my Masters Degree in Technology Innovation Management from Carleton University, Canada. I joined Parkway Project in Strategic Business Development after my Masters and was there for about three years before joining Google.
When did you start programming?
I always had an interest in computers as a kid; I wanted to know how television, radio and other electronics worked. But I never had access to a computer until after my secondary school, in my entry year at Federal Polytechnic, Nekede, where I had the opportunity to do my internship in a company where they fix computers. That was my first time of actually touching a computer. There, I got to run commands on DOS but I did not get to the programming aspect then because it was like a spiritual thing or Greek language to me. But I could assemble a computer.
In my university, I came across a book, Learn GW Basic, that taught me basic programming language. It was like finding gold. I started reading the book and I didn’t have a computer to practice what I was learning, so I started writing my codes on paper to the extent that I could write complex on paper. I had an exercise book that I used to write my codes in with the hope that I would use a computer one day. It was a totally new challenge to launch a programming environment and to convert my code into software when I eventually got an assembled computer from Computer Village. I later graduated from Basic to C++.
When and how did you get your first computer?
I got my first computer in my final year in university. I gathered money from my little savings, got money from relatives and went to Computer Village in Lagos to buy an assembled computer. It was then I picked up Java.
Career, Startups, Entrepreneurship
What is your programming language of choice?
I won’t count myself as an active programmer now but I did J2ME (Java to Enterprise) during my time at Socket Works. That could have been my language of choice if I was asked then, but Python filled my request when I was looking for a language to knock things down and solve some algorithm problem.
Have you been part of any startups?
Yes, the first place I worked was a startup. I joined a month after the company started.
Why choose a paid job over entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship is good, however my analysis of the situation today is that in Nigeria in particular, and in Africa in general, we do not yet have the critical mass of solid developers, developers that are at the stage where they can build something solid (production ready developers or employable developers). We don’t have the critical mass of such developers to satisfy the available startups, even though we don’t have enough startups and most of the startups in Nigeria don’t have capacity to employ and sustain ten programmers. Although, the crux of what I’m doing at my current job is to build the capacity for the startups in Nigeria and Africa.
Did you have mentors when growing as a developer?
I was fortunate because of my peers while growing up. We were a group of like-minded people and most of them were better than I. We were driven by the same passion. We didn’t discuss the latest cars, jeans or babes. We talked about the latest language, new APIs, SDKs and others. The group inspired me a lot but we didn’t really have mentors as the internet was at an early age; then, you could only check mails at cyber cafés, not like today that you can hook up with developers at Google, Microsoft, on Facebook or Google+/ Although, we have a senior mentor, Pius Onobhayedo.
You said most Nigerian developers are not employable, what do you think is lacking?
There are so many aspects. The truth is, a university graduate should be able to get a job based on what he learnt in school and should be able to start working on production codes that are going to be used by paying customers. But the average graduates of computer science cannot even pass the interview, not to talk of writing code that users will trust, codes that would not crash.
What we have now are cases of people who are passionate like we were in those days, who went the extra mile, bought books, burnt oil in the midnight, and got internet connection when there was none. That’s less than five percent of computer related graduates that have the skills. That’s the what, not the why. The why can be blamed on anything.
What is the way forward?
The techies/software developers have not earned the respect of the mainstream media yet. There are no Nigerian techies on the front pages of Nigeria newspapers, although there is a lot happening but the mainstream hasn’t noticed yet. And the mainstream can only take notice when there are billionaires and millionaires among techies who made their money purely from software, like Larry Page, and those would be able to speak for others. But now, software developers in Africa are seen as tools.
How soon do you think that would happen?
I am an optimist, so I think it can happen in the next three years. There are people who are moving in that direction.
Do you think there are roles the government could play in this?
Yes, there is always a role for government and they have already started playing it with iDEA. I think this is the first government that has actually done something in the software community. Although it’s a drop in the ocean but it’s a significant drop.
We also need to get the education system right so that we can produce skilled developers from our universities.
In your own view, what is the future of software development in Nigeria?
I am not a prophet, but Nigeria is a big and ripe market and a lot of foreign companies are already tapping into it from India, Europe, South Africa, US and even from Kenya. But no matter how much foreign knowledge, the fact remains that local knowledge is always relevant, there will always be an opportunity for local developers to cash in.
What would your advice be for a fresh graduate, entrepreneurship or job?
Unless he happens to be a very talented guy with a passionate idea that would go beyond money, I would advise him to go and find a job. Working somewhere should not be underrated, because that is where you get to learn and work with people who know more than you, and also learn about the whole functionality of a company from accounting department to human resources and still get paid.
What would your advice be for an entrepreneur?
Do it man! There is no time better than now where software guys command power.
Do you have 2 or 3 developers that you would like to give public kudos?
There are so many of them, but at the more experienced level we have Emeka Onwuka, Femi Taiwo, Kalu Okore, Chinedu Okafor, and many more. These are guys who understand the why and how of software development; they don’t just write codes.
What do you do for fun, when not coding or working?
I listen to music (mostly jazz), read, watch movies and sit with friends to talk about everything about nothing.
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Join me next Wednesday for another episode of Developer’s Corner. Are you a Nigerian developer? My next stop may be you, so get prepared or hit me up at adewale@bits.ng.
