The news:
- Nigeria's Minister of Communications, Innovation, and Digital Economy (FMoCIDE), Bosun Tijani, has revealed the ministry's plan to equip three million Nigerians with tech skills by 2027.
- The plan is part of his ministry's strategic blueprint, which he posted on X (formerly Twitter).
- The blueprint has a five-pillar agenda, which are: knowledge, policy, infrastructure, innovation, entrepreneurship & capital, and trade.
According to FMoCIDE's strategic plan, it will "train three million early- to mid-career technical talents over the next four years.
It said these trainings will cover tech-enabled and tech-adjacent skills, core tech competencies, and advanced proficiencies."
It described the plan as an ambitious goal that will strengthen Nigeria's workforce and evolve its tech landscape.
Of the three million people that will be trained, the strategic plan noted that 1.5 million will be retained in Nigeria while the remaining are expected to excel in the global talent space "preferably through remote opportunities."
The mission is part of the knowledge pillar. Other plans under this pillar include a mission to achieve 95% digital literacy by 2030 and position Nigeria in the top 25% percentile in research globally.
The second pillar is policy. It plans to create policies in nine key areas including, blockchain artificial intelligence AI, telecommunications, and data.
However, a national AI strategy seems to be of priority as it gives more details on what it would achieve. It highlighted that Nigeria currently ranks 96th on AI readiness and it plans to bump the country up to 50 by 2030.
It also wants to "elevate Nigeria as a top 10 location for AI model training and talents globally. In addition, we will position Nigeria as a global leader in accelerating inclusivity in AI dataset."
The other pillars — infrastructure, innovation, entrepreneurship & capita and trade also align with President Bola Tinubu's renewed hope agenda. It, however, pointed out that the document is not an operational plan but just a highlight of its goals and objectives.
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