President Bola Tinubu has announced a six-month free digital skills training programme for two million Nigerians to address the country's growing workforce gap in the industrial and technology sectors.
The Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, disclosed this at the third edition of the 2025 Ministerial Press Briefing in Abuja, referencing a UNESCO report that highlights major skills shortages across various digital fields.
According to the report, Nigeria currently has:
650,000 vacancies in software development
280,000 vacancies in cybersecurity
160,000 vacancies in IT automation
150,000 vacancies in artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning
120,000 vacancies in cloud computing
60,000 vacancies in natural language processing
"These figures add up to nearly two million job vacancies," Alausa said. "To bridge this gap, the government is establishing a Digital Training Academy (DTA) to equip young Nigerians with globally competitive skills."
The programme will cover training costs, including internet access and globally recognized certifications from institutions such as Cisco, Google, and End of Career. The training is scheduled to launch in June 2025 and will run alongside efforts to promote Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education to align with national workforce demands.
Revamping Nigeria's Education and Workforce Development
Beyond digital skills training, the government is also tackling other key educational challenges. It plans to reintegrate 10 million out-of-school children, particularly from the Almajiri system, by training and compensating their teachers and reallocating Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) funds to support the Almajiri Commission.
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On school security, Alausa said the Safe School Initiative has been reinforced, with rapid response security teams now on standby to protect schools under a centralized command system.
Between now and 2027, the government plans to:
Construct 195,000 new classrooms
Build 28,000 toilets
Install 22,900 boreholes
Distribute 103 million textbooks
In addition, N120 billion has been approved to fund students' entrepreneurial training, with a new dual education model that allows students to spend three days in school, one day in training, and one day in workshops. The training will be 80% practical and 20% theoretical to enhance hands-on learning.
National Library Project and Higher Education Reforms
On the long-abandoned National Library project, the minister revealed that President Tinubu has committed N40 billion to resume construction, ensuring it supports academic and research needs.
The Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) is also expanding its offerings, providing interest-free loans to students to ease financial burdens on them and their parents.
However, Alausa warned about the over-proliferation of universities in Nigeria, with nearly 200 pending bills at the National Assembly for the establishment of new institutions. He urged lawmakers to prioritize strengthening existing universities rather than pressuring the president to approve more.
"There's a need to renew the capacities of existing institutions, enabling them to offer more viable courses instead of focusing on expansion," he said.
For specialized universities, he called for a reduction in non-technical courses to ensure they remain focused on their core mandates.
TETFund to Continue, More Investments in Infrastructure
Dispelling rumors about the scrapping of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), Alausa clarified that the education tax fund will continue indefinitely, rather than being phased out by 2030 as previously suggested.
He assured that more resources will be channeled into infrastructure development, laboratory construction, engineering workshops, and recruiting international-standard faculty to enhance the quality of higher education.
With these initiatives, the Tinubu administration aims to equip Nigerian youth with the skills and education necessary to drive the country's industrial and digital transformation.
