Nigeria's Federal Ministry of Education launches Digital Training Academy to train 32,000 in AI and coding

Nigeria's Federal Ministry of Education launched the Digital Training Academy (DTA) in Abuja, a six-month programme to train 32,000 Nigerians for free in artificial intelligence, machine learning, software development, cybersecurity, cloud computing, IT automation, natural language processing and quantum computing. The ministry received 72,850 applications from the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, with 19,699 applicants meeting entry requirements and 16,000 selected for the first cohort. Participants will access international learning platforms including Coursera and Pluralsight and pursue professional certifications from Google, IBM and Huawei. The initiative is implemented with the National Open University of Nigeria and Yaba College of Technology.

This is a national education ministry directly organising large-scale AI and digital skills training, involving 32,000 people, university partnerships and international platforms and vendor certifications, giving it substantial impact on Nigeria's AI talent supply and digital skills diffusion. For AI education product providers, the programme signals that government-led training procurement may drive demand for platform access, certification partnerships and localised courses. The programme has just launched with 16,000 selected for the first cohort, but completion rates, certification pass rates and job conversion have no public results yet and still require follow-up data. The first 16,000 Nigerian participants will receive free training in AI, coding and other digital skills with access to international platform certifications. Government-led large-scale training may drive adoption of platforms such as Coursera and Pluralsight and certifications from Google, IBM and Huawei locally.