The Federal Government has set a target of creating one million export-linked jobs and producing 10 million globally certified Nigerians by 2030 as part of ongoing reforms in education and skills development.
Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, disclosed this at the “Hire From Nigeria” side event held on the margins of the 81st United Nations General Assembly in New York.
According to a statement issued on Sunday in Abuja by Ikharo Attah, Special Adviser on Media and Communications to the minister, Alausa said the Federal Ministry of Education was playing a central role in building the talent pipeline required to connect Nigerians with employment opportunities in the global economy.
The minister said the ministry was repositioning Nigeria’s education and skills system to produce trained, certified and adaptable workers capable of competing in the global outsourcing and digitally enabled services market.
“Nigeria’s greatest asset is its people: a young, ambitious, English-speaking and increasingly digitally capable population.
“Our task in Education is to turn that scale into verified competence and reliable service delivery,” Alausa said.
He identified Nigeria’s youthful population, English-language advantage, cultural adaptability and expanding digital capabilities as factors that could support greater participation in the global services economy.
However, Alausa said Nigeria would need to close the gap between training and changing employer demands, while expanding opportunities for work-based learning and access to internationally recognised certifications.
He said the government was addressing the gaps through curriculum reforms, stronger accreditation and quality assurance, as well as expanded digital and technical training.
“We need a permanent employer-led feedback loop, not occasional curriculum reviews,” the minister said.
Alausa called for greater involvement from employers in designing programmes, training, assessment, certification and recruitment to ensure that education and skills development remain aligned with labour-market needs.
He also said the government was working to change perceptions of Technical and Vocational Education and Training by positioning skills acquisition as a pathway to employment, entrepreneurship and participation in the global economy.
The minister disclosed that the Federal Government’s free TVET programme had received more than one million applications, while 160,000 trainees had been supported through about 1,200 centres nationwide, including Federal Technical Colleges and accredited private training centres.
He said the government was pursuing multiple pathways to employment and enterprise through university education, TVET, apprenticeships and continuous upskilling.
According to Alausa, the pathways are intended to provide opportunities for employment, entrepreneurship and further education while allowing Nigerians to continue acquiring relevant skills throughout their careers.
The minister also highlighted the need to prepare young Nigerians for an economy increasingly shaped by artificial intelligence and advanced technologies.
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“We must train young people to work with artificial intelligence, not to compete with it on routine tasks,” he said.
He said the focus should increasingly be placed on technology-complementary skills, including judgement, creativity, domain expertise, data literacy, cybersecurity, cloud services, software development, customer success and quality assurance.
As part of the digital-skills drive, the Federal Ministry of Education has launched the Digital Training Academy, which is designed to provide 32,000 Nigerians with free access to professional digital and technology training through global learning platforms including Coursera and Pluralsight. (Fed Min Info & Nat Orientation)
The programme covers areas including software development, cloud computing, cybersecurity, information technology automation, artificial intelligence and machine learning, financial technology and natural language processing.
At the academy’s launch earlier in September, the ministry said it had received 72,850 applications from the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, with 16,000 Nigerians selected for the inaugural cohort and the programme targeting 32,000 beneficiaries overall. (Fed Min Info & Nat Orientation)
Alausa also pointed to the Student Venture Capital Grant as another component of the government’s efforts to support innovation, particularly by helping students in Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics and Medicine disciplines turn ideas into viable businesses.
He said the rapid pace of technological change meant Nigeria’s education system must equip young people to continuously learn, unlearn and retrain throughout their working lives.
The minister therefore urged international employers, Business Process Outsourcing operators, investors and development partners to move beyond expressions of interest and establish practical partnerships capable of creating sustainable talent pipelines.
He called on employers to define their skills requirements, participate in programme design, provide work-based learning, recognise credible Nigerian certifications and recruit from Nigerian talent pools.
Alausa also encouraged BPO operators and investors to establish delivery centres beyond Nigeria’s major commercial cities, with investment in training infrastructure, connectivity, quality systems and management capacity.
He said development partners could support the initiative through scalable certification programmes, instructor development, inclusion of women and underserved communities, labour-market intelligence and systems for measuring employment outcomes.
The minister further highlighted international institutional partnerships and centres of excellence as mechanisms for strengthening global linkages, benchmarking and knowledge transfer.
He said the Federal Ministry of Education would continue to deepen industry participation in curriculum development and certification, expand market-relevant TVET and digital-skills programmes, and strengthen accreditation and quality assurance.
Alausa said the reforms were aligned with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda, particularly its emphasis on human capital development, job creation, skills acquisition and inclusive economic growth.
He said the ministry’s broader objective was to build an education and skills system capable of connecting Nigerian talent to global opportunities while strengthening the country’s position in the international economy and enabling young Nigerians to build sustainable careers both within Nigeria and abroad.