Policymakers in Nigeria and globally should treat durable skills such as creativity, critical thinking, communication and collaboration as central to education rather than optional extras, according to a report by technology firm HP. The HP Futures 2026 report, developed by HP with the Global Learning Council and the Education Leaders Forum, drew on input from 58 experts across education, policymaking and the future of work.
The report stressed that durable skills must be properly resourced, timetabled and assessed within education systems, with greater support provided to educators. To prevent these skills from widening inequality, it recommended that programmes in public systems and low-resource settings use teacher-mediated AI, low-bandwidth delivery and predictable costs. Literacy, numeracy and identity-forming learning should remain at the foundation of education, the report said, with creative, hands-on methods used to teach both fundamentals and durable skills together.
Assessment emerged as the biggest obstacle to scaling these skills, the report found. It urged policymakers to establish standardised assessment pathways that higher education institutions and employers recognise across countries, and to involve students in designing curricula. The report also called for new education models that give students ways to credential their durable skills across borders, providing a common benchmark for higher education institutions and employers.
David McQuarrie, Chief Commercial Officer at HP and Chair of HP Futures, said educators, policymakers and employers share responsibility for preparing young people for future challenges. Mayank Dhingra, Director and Global Head of Education Business and Strategy at HP, urged policymakers to act immediately to prevent AI-era readiness and durable skills ownership from becoming another source of structural inequality. He called on policymakers and education leaders in Nigeria and worldwide to review the findings and use them to build education systems that prepare students for success.
For Nigerian savers, borrowers, business owners and investors, the implications remain dependent on whether policymakers adopt these recommendations to shape the future workforce.