By Funmilayo Adeyemi
The Federal Government says 19,723 Nigerians have qualified for the first cohort of its Digital Training Academy (DTA), following the receipt of 72,850 applications from across the country.
Mr Adebayo Onigbanjo, the National Coordinator, Special Programme Operations and Implementation Unit (SPOI) at the Federal Ministry of Education, disclosed this at a news conference on Wednesday in Abuja.
Onigbanjo spoke ahead of the national launch of the DTA, scheduled to take place on Sept. 14, 2026.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the DTA is a free, Federal Government-backed digital skills training initiative under the Nigerian Education Digital Initiative (NEDI).
The national coordinator said the programme was a key intervention of the Nigerian Education Sector Renewal Initiative (NESRI), designed to equip young Nigerians with globally recognised and in-demand digital competencies at no cost to beneficiaries.
He said the initiative formed part of the Federal Government’s response to President Bola Tinubu’s directive to develop a generation of Nigerians with skills certified to international standards.
According to him, the objective is also to ensure that Nigerian youths acquire competencies that will enable them to compete effectively in the global digital economy.
Onigbanjo said applications for the first cohort opened on Aug. 17 and closed on Sept. 1, with 72,850 registrations recorded from the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
He explained that following the screening process, 19,723 applicants met the qualifying benchmark and were confirmed eligible to participate in the programme.
The national coordinator said beneficiaries of the Federal Government’s 3 Million Technical Talent (3MTT) programme had also been integrated into the first cohort of the academy.
He added that learners nominated through partner institutions, including Yaba College of Technology and the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN), were also enrolled in the programme.
Onigbanjo said the integration of existing digital skills initiatives demonstrated the DTA’s commitment to building on investments already made by the government in digital capacity development.
He disclosed that the training would be delivered through two global learning partners, Coursera and Pluralsight.
According to him, Coursera will provide training in six tracks, namely Cybersecurity, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, Financial Technology, Product Management, Natural Language Processing and Quantum Computing.
He added that Pluralsight would provide training in four areas, including Agentic AI, Proactive Security, IT Automation and Cloud Computing.
Onigbanjo said every learner in the first cohort would train toward obtaining a certification recognised not only in Nigeria but also by employers and institutions around the world.
He urged all successful applicants to log into their accounts and accept their licence offers to enable them to commence classes immediately.
He explained that the DTA was a core pillar of NESRI’s Data and Digitalisation initiative and aligned with the Renewed Hope Agenda’s focus on human capital development.
The national coordinator said the first cohort marked the beginning of the academy’s national expansion, adding that further details on subsequent cohorts would be unveiled at the national launch.(NAN) www.nannews.ng
Edited by Deji Abdulwahab