The Federal Government has fixed February 29th, 2024, for the announcement of 270,000 Nigerians selected for the 2nd cohort of its 3 Million Technical Talent (3MTT) program.
The Minister of Communications, Innovation, and Digital Economy, Dr. Bosun Tijani, announced this on Monday while giving updates on the program.
According to him, the fellows to be announced on February 29th will commence their training in March.
The Minister said the government is encouraged to forge ahead with the program as it continues to receive huge support from partners and stakeholders towards achieving its target of training 3 million Nigerians in technical skills.
Jobs for first cohort fellows
Providing the update through a post on his X handle, the Communications Minister said:
- “As we wrap up the first phase of the @3MTTNigeria program, I am pleased to provide an update on our progress so far.
- “First, we can confirm that fellows selected for the 2nd phase of the 3MTT program will be announced on Thursday, February 29th, 2024 with a projected training start date in March.
- “Another key update is that as our first cohort graduates from the program, we will be finalizing job placements for them. We currently have over 1,400 organizations that have indicated interest in taking on fellows from our first cohort and will be announcing the first set of these job placements in the next few weeks.
- “This is a critical part of the objective of the #3MTT Program that ensures we not only deliver technically trained talent but also connect them to decent jobs.”
The program
According to Tijani, the 3MTT program is a critical part of the Renewed Hope agenda and is aimed at building Nigeria’s technical talent backbone to power its digital economy and position Nigeria as a net talent exporter.
He said the first phase of the program, executed in collaboration with NITDA, will involve multiple stakeholders including fellows, training providers, partners, and placement organizations.
In the first phase, he said the government would select individuals with an interest in specific skills and fund the cost of their training with training providers accepted into the program.
Highlighting how the first phase of the program was designed to run ahead of the kickoff, the Minister had stated:
- “In line with the Ministry’s 1%-10%-100% implementation approach, this first phase will aim to train and place 30,000 technical talents, representing 1% of our overall target. It will be executed based on the framework co-created with key stakeholders across government agencies, training providers, educational institutions, development agencies, and the private sector.”
Some of the skills Nigerians were trained on in the first phase were 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.