Bosun Tijani, the Minister of Communications, Innovation, and Digital Economy, announced that an additional 270,000 Nigerians will join the government’s 3 Million Technical Talent (3MTT) program by February 29, 2024. This disclosure marks the end of the scheme’s initial phase, which aimed to empower three million Nigerians with technical skills.
In his update, Tijani stated that successful candidates for the program’s second phase will be announced on Thursday, February 29, 2024, with project training commencing in March. The first cohort of 30,000 underwent intensive training across 12 skill areas in recent months.
Highlighting Nigeria’s lessons from the initial phase, Tijani expressed the country’s intention to enhance its approach with each new cohort. He noted the growing support from partners and stakeholders in the journey to deliver three million technical talents by 2027.
Over 1,400 organizations have shown interest in accepting candidates from the program’s first cohort. Phase 2 will span three cohorts and is scheduled to conclude by September 2025.
The 3MTT scheme aims to position Nigeria as a tech talent exporter, akin to countries like India. It will equip Nigerians with various tech skills, including Software Development, UI/UX Design, Data Analysis and Visualization, Quality Assurance, Product Management, Data Science, Animation, AI/Machine Learning, Cybersecurity, Game Development, Cloud Computing, and Dev Ops.
In an earlier report, Bosun Tijani revealed that over one million applications were received for the 3MTT program. The Nigerian government had opened an application portal for phase one of the initiative, emphasizing the importance of building Nigeria’s tech talent pool to boost its digital economy and become a net tech exporter.
