The federal government has announced the establishment of an advisory committee for its 3 Million Technical Talent (3MTT) with the appointment of key leaders in Nigeria’s tech community as its members.
According to the Minister of Communications, Innovation, and Digital Economy, Dr. Bosun Tijani, the Committee will be chaired by Emeka Afigbo, Senior Director of Developer Success at Okta.
Other members of the Committee include founder of Future Africa and co-founder of Andela and Flutterwave, Iyinoluwa Aboyeji; Ex-CPO, Typeform, Calendly, Twitter, Oji Udezue; GTM Acceleration Lead – EMEA, AWS, Joy Omoregie; CEO, PremiaBN, Bola Lawal; and CEO, Outsource Global, Amal Hassan.
Why the Committee
According to the Minister, the Committee was set up to provide oversight and guidance for the continued successful implementation of the 3MTT program.
As chairman of the committee, Afigbo, a respected figure in developer relations with a background at Meta and Google, is expected to bring his expertise in building developer ecosystems across Africa to the 3MTT program.
- Iyinoluwa Aboyeji with his deep insights into Africa’s startup ecosystem and investment industry is expected to bring this to bear on the government’s program and impact the fellows.
- Ope Bukola brings experience in edtech, which aligns with 3MTT’s mission to scale up tech education across the continent.
- Oji Udezue, who is a former chief product officer at Typeform, Calendly, and Twitter, will be expected to use his expertise in product management to help shape the program’s structure and outreach.
- Joy Omoregie brings to the committee a strong understanding of go-to-market strategies essential for digital transformation in emerging markets.
- Bola Lawal with a background in digital finance and business development, provides insights into aligning training with market needs.
- Amal Hassan, a leader in the outsourcing sector, brings experience in job creation and talent development, particularly within Nigeria.
What you should know
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.
- The program started with 30,000 Nigerians, representing 1% of the 3 million target, while the 270,000 selected for the second cohort brings the number to 10%. To achieve the program’s target, Tijani said the different phases 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 are being trained on include 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.
