The Federal Government has received N1 billion grants from the Airtel Africa Foundation for the 3MTT Nigeria programme towards training and empowering over 25,000 people with in-demand technical skills.
This development was disclosed recently by Dr. ’Bosun Tijani, Honourable Minister for Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy.
Affirming the objective of the grant, Dr. Tijani, in a post via his social media account, stated: “Today, we received a N1 billion grant from the Airtel Africa Foundation for our 3MTT Nigeria programme towards training and empowering over 25,000 Nigerians with in-demand technical skills.”
The Minister also explained the fresh grant by the Airtel Africa Foundation would “cover hands-on training, community engagement, and job placement initiatives.”
He affirmed the Telco’s provision of the grant is in tandem with the objective of enhancing Nigeria’s digital workforce in alignment with H.E President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s (GCFR) Renewed Hope Agenda.
“Grateful to the Airtel Africa Foundation for collaborating with us as we work to position Nigeria as a key player in the global technology landscape,” Tijani further stated.
Highlighting the significance of equipping Nigerians with the needed skills at a recent event, President Tinubu emphasised that his administration is “implementing, among others, the 3 million Technical Talents programme (3MTT) of the Ministry of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, aimed at building Nigeria’s technical talent backbone.”
Earlier, the Minister Tijani during his engagement with Google, had highlighted the core deliverables contained in the Ministry’s “Strategic Blueprint”, and said: “This significant commitment, which is in alignment with our Strategic Blueprint, will be directed towards the following initiatives.”
The Minister disclosed the DeepTech Ready Upskilling Programme, which involves a training programme “which will operate within the framework of our 3MTT Nigeria initiative to empower 20,000 Nigerians with advanced technical skills in Data Science and Artificial Intelligence.”
He equally mentioned other technology-oriented initiatives for which the global tech giant would provide resources and training to include Experience AI Programme, co-developed by the Raspberry Pi Foundation and Google DeepMind to introduce young people aged 11-14 to the fundamentals of AI.
Tijani said the Apolitical Government AI Campus Programme, which is described as a virtual platform providing government officials and policymakers with access to resources and training on AI governance and application is also part of the blueprint.
The Executive Vice-Chairman of NCC while speaking at the 5th Edition of the Telecom Sector Sustainability Forum (TSSF) 5.0 also highlighted the Commission’s role in curbing talent migration through initiatives aimed at promoting indigenous content and improving the infrastructure necessary for digital growth in Nigeria.
Maida said, “The Commission is actively participating in the 3 Million Technical Talent (3MTT) programme, initiated by the Ministry of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, which aims to train 3 million Nigerians in digital and technical skills by 2027.”