The Federal Government said it has signed a partnership deal with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) to offer paid internships to 3,000 fellows of the 3 Million Technical Training (3MTT) program.

The Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Dr Bosun Tijani, announced this on Tuesday. The Minister also announced that the first cohort of the program would be launched on Wednesday, November 15, 2023 at an event to be streamed live on YouTube.

While over 1 million Nigerians have applied for the program which is seeking to train 3 million Nigerians over the next 4 years, the first cohort of the program will accommodate only 30,000 according to the implementation plan. The fellows who made the first batch are expected to be notified tomorrow as the program kicks off.

Applying the skills

While announcing the partnership with UNDP,  the Minister said the internships offer would enable the trained fellows to apply the skills they have learnt in the program.

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  • “We are pleased to announce a partnership with @UNDPNigeria to offer 3,000 paid internships to our 3MTT fellows. These 12 month internships will help fulfill our objective to ensure that participants in the 3MTT programme get placed in roles that will allow them apply the skills they learn in the programme,” the Minister said in post on X.

It  is unclear yet how the 3,000 that will benefit from this internships offer will be selected. The Minister also did not disclose whether the 3,000 will be picked from the first cohort of 30,000 or spread over entire batches of the program.

A second deal

The partnership with UNDP came as the second major deal sealed by the government since preparations for the 3MTT program commenced.

Earlier, the Minister had announced a N1 billion funding for the program to be provided by IHS Telecom. According to the Minister, the N1 billion funding from IHS Towers also includes a commitment to paying the salaries of 37 dedicated learning community managers for each location for the next 3 years.

According to the Minister, some of the skills Nigerians would be trained on in the first phase are skills that utilise technology to enhance various roles without directly involving tech creation.

These include Digital Marketing, Project Management Software, Cloud Platforms Navigation, Data Analysis and Visualisation, Digital Marketing, Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), CRM Management, Accounting Software, Graphics Design, and UX/UI Design, among several others.