Government-backed 3 Million Technical Talent (3MTT) programme today received a N1 billion grant from Airtel Africa Foundation, as revealed by the Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Dr Bosun Tijani, via his X (formerly Twitter) page.
“Today we received a N1 Billion grant from the Airtel Africa Foundation for our @3MTTNigeria programme towards training and empowering over 25,000 Nigerians with in-demand technical skills,” he wrote.
With this, Nigeria’s tech agenda is gathering pace — and the private sector is responding swiftly.
According to Tijani, the grant will cover hands-on training, community engagement, and job placement for participants — core aspects of the 3MTT project, which is part of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s “Renewed Hope” vision.
The goal is to build young Nigerians with future-proof skills and inject new energy into the country’s digital workforce.
“Grateful to the Airtel Africa Foundation for collaborating with us as we work to position Nigeria as a key player in the global technology landscape,” Tijani added.
But this didn’t come out of the blue. The groundwork was laid in February.
Back then, Airtel Africa’s top brass, Chairman Mr Sunil Bharti Mittal and CEO Sunil Taldar, met with President Tinubu at the State House in Abuja. That visit went beyond a ceremonial. It brought firm pledges to back Nigeria’s tech aspirations with concrete programmes and funding.
Airtel Africa committed to supporting digital training for 25,000 young Nigerians across 80 local government areas under the 3MTT initiative. They also launched the Airtel Africa Fellowship — awarding 10 fully-funded scholarships for tech-focused degrees at Plaksha University, India.
“Nigeria remains a strategic market for Airtel Africa, and we are fully committed to support the government’s digital transformation agenda,” said Mr Mittal at the time. “Through initiatives like the Airtel Africa Fellowship and our investment in 3MTT, we are ensuring that the youth of Nigeria have access to world-class education and digital skills. We commend President Tinubu’s vision for a technologically advanced Nigeria and are committed to play our part in making that vision a reality.”
Airtel Africa has been expanding its footprint in Nigeria’s digital and telecoms space. From scaling financial inclusion through SmartCash PSB to onboarding over 600,000 students and 1,260 schools via the Airtel-UNICEF “Reimagine Education” initiative, the company is betting big on Nigeria’s future.
Their support for the 3MTT programme strengthens that posture. It’s not charity; it’s strategy. And it may well be working.
With unemployment still high and tech talent in global demand, this latest investment could become a turning point. The 3MTT initiative is always ambitious, training three million people is no small task, but with this kind of backing, it’s starting to feel more real.
There are still challenges. Infrastructure, internet access, curriculum design, and job placement logistics won’t fix themselves overnight. But what’s changed is the energy behind the effort. The stakeholders are starting to align — government, telcos, global institutions. That’s the hard part.
If Nigeria can keep this going, we may look back at this moment — this grant, this tweet, this week — as the one that kicked off a true digital transformation.
Until then, the numbers speak for themselves: one billion naira, twenty-five thousand young Nigerians, and the slow but steady rise of a new kind of workforce. One built not on oil or imports, but on code, creativity, and global relevance.
And for once, we’re not just watching the future happen. We’re building it.
