Airtel Nigeria, in collaboration with the Federal Government, is set to train 25,000 Nigerians in digital and technological skills over the next two weeks, under the 3 Million Technical Talents (3MTT) programme. The initiative aims to rapidly boost the country’s tech talent base and empower youths with in-demand skills for the digital economy.
The announcement was made during a special roundtable session with Airtel Nigeria’s Managing Director and CEO, Dinesh Balsingh, held in Ikeja, Lagos. Speaking at the event, the company’s Director of Corporate Communications and Corporate Social Responsibility, Femi Adeniran, said the training will span over 80 local government areas and focus on equipping young Nigerians with skills relevant to today’s digital marketplace.
“In the next two weeks, we will be training 25,000 talents in our partnership programme with the Federal Government under the 3MTT scheme,” Adeniran said. “Airtel believes in the power of technology and digital skills to unlock new opportunities, drive economic growth, and uplift communities. This programme is a bold step towards ensuring Nigerian youths are active participants in the digital revolution.”
Participants will receive training in high-demand areas including digital marketing, data analysis and visualisation, project management software, cloud platform navigation, SEO, CRM management, accounting software, graphic design, and UI/UX design, among others.
In a major infrastructure development, Airtel Africa is also investing $120 million in the construction of a state-of-the-art data centre in Nigeria. The facility, scheduled to launch next year, will be located in Eko Atlantic, Victoria Island, Lagos.
Explaining the significance of this investment, Mr. Balsingh noted that data centres are critical to digital infrastructure as they process and store vast volumes of information. “The establishment of a local data centre will lead to faster internet and low latency, since data hosted locally improves speed and reduces delays,” he said.
Beyond speed and performance, the new facility is also expected to address concerns around data sovereignty by ensuring sensitive national data remains within Nigeria rather than being hosted on foreign servers. Airtel customers are also expected to benefit from improved internet speed and stronger, more reliable network connections.
As digital penetration deepens across Nigeria, the twin developments of mass digital training and local data centre investment mark a strategic push to accelerate the country’s digital transformation, create new economic opportunities, and position Nigeria as a competitive tech hub in Africa.
