Professional Design of a Cybersecurity Certification Pathway for Nigerian IT Professionals

Nigeria's cybersecurity workforce faces a skills gap that limits the country's capacity to defend its digital infrastructure, and professionally designing a nationally recognised certification pathway can accelerate the development of competent security practitioners. This study designed a cybersecurity certification pathway for Nigerian IT professionals, drawing on the current state of the cybersecurity workforce through a survey of 200 IT professionals in Lagos, Abuja, and Kano, structured consultations with 15 industry security managers and 10 academic cybersecurity specialists, and benchmarking against ISACA CISA/CISM pathways, CompTIA Security+/CySA+/CASP+ levels, and South Africa's ISETT Seta cybersecurity qualifications framework. The workforce survey confirmed that 74.5 percent held no security-specific certification, 68.0 percent cited cost as the primary barrier, and 82.0 percent preferred a Nigerian institutional certification over foreign alternatives. The designed pathway encompasses three levels: Foundation (NITDA Cyber Essentials), Professional (NITDA Certified Cybersecurity Practitioner), and Advanced (NITDA Cybersecurity Specialist). Each level specifies prerequisite qualifications, learning outcomes, examination format, continuing professional development requirements, and recognition by federal government procurement criteria. Expert review by twelve certification design and cybersecurity workforce specialists confirmed the pathway's professional currency. The study recommends NITDA adopt the pathway as the national cybersecurity professional development standard and partner with tertiary institutions for accredited delivery.

Keywords: cybersecurity certification, IT professionals, Nigeria, NITDA, workforce development