Nigerian Government Secures N1billion Funding for Technical Talents

The Nigerian government has announced a one billion naira partnership with IHS Towers to build learning communities across the federation for the 3 Million Technical Talent (3MTT) programme.

Dr. Bosun Tijani, the Minister for Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, announced via his social media that there will be an establishment of learning communities in all 36 states and the FCT.

The funding of N1 billion from IHS Towers also includes a pledge to cover the salaries of 37 specialised managers for each location over the next three years.

A landmark partnership that should firm up the government’s ambitious plan to train three million Nigerians with technical skills in four years, the minister explained  “This is the first in several partnerships that we will be securing in support of our targets, specifically for the 3MTT programme and broadly for the Knowledge pillar in our Strategic Blueprint,” he said.

Under the three-year partnership, IHS Nigeria established the 3MTT Learning Community to empower Nigerians with critical digital skills.

Tijani described the initiative as strategic to building Nigeria’s technical talent backbone to drive its digital economy and Africa’s most populous country as a net talent exporter.

About 30, 000 Nigerians are expected to be trained in the first phase, and more than 330,000 applications have been received.

According to the plan, learning communities will be set up in the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) to provide opportunities for the 3MTT participants to learn, collaborate, and build projects.

The establishment of the learning communities will also strengthen local innovation ecosystems nationwide, the minister added.

According to IHS Nigeria’s CEO, Mohamad Darwish, “We are delighted to partner with the Minister of Communications, Innovation, and Digital Economy and his ministry on the 3MTT initiative. We share the government’s commitment to Nigeria’s economic empowerment and growth and hope this initiative will feed into President Bola Tinubu’s agenda on job creation while enhancing technical skills,” he said.

The first phase of the 3MTT will focus on tech skills that include digital marketing, project management software, cloud platform navigation, data analysis and visualisation, digital marketing, search engine optimisation (SEO), CRM management, accounting software, graphic design, and UX/UI design.  These are skills that allow trainees to support the workflow of organisations and not necessarily create tech innovations.