Minister of Education, Tunji Alausa, announced the initiative on Thursday after meetings held during the Education World Forum 2026 in London.

The Federal Government said it would fully fund 36,000 training licences in the programme’s first year, removing the cost barrier for participants.

Training will cover Artificial Intelligence, Data Science, Cybersecurity, Cloud Computing and Software Engineering, while successful participants will earn certifications recognised by employers globally.

Alausa described the programme as one of the biggest government-backed digital skills investments in the country.

“On the sidelines of the Education World Forum 2026 in London, I signed a landmark partnership with @coursera to launch the Digital Training Academy (DTA), a major initiative designed to equip Nigerian youths with globally competitive digital skills.”

He added: “Through this programme, young Nigerians will receive world-class training in Artificial Intelligence, Data Science, Cybersecurity, Cloud Computing, Software Engineering and other high-demand digital fields, while earning globally recognised certifications valued by employers across the world.”

The minister said the programme supports President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda, which places attention on youth development, innovation and workforce readiness.

“The Renewed Hope Agenda recognises that digital competency is no longer optional. It is foundational,” Alausa said.

“The Digital Training Academy is a direct investment in helping young Nigerians compete and lead in the global digital economy.”

According to the Ministry of Education, the programme will run in partnership with National Open University of Nigeria and Yaba College of Technology.

The government said NOUN would use its nationwide structure to give students across the country access to the programme, while YABATECH would provide technical support, facilitators and industry-focused mentorship.

“Access to training alone is not enough. What truly changes lives is completion, support and accountability,” Alausa stated.

Officials say the academy forms part of reforms introduced by the government to improve technical and vocational education.

In 2025, the Federal Government revised the Technical and Vocational Education Training curriculum, increasing the focus on practical learning with an 80:20 ratio in favour of hands-on training.

Nigeria also signed an agreement with China last year to strengthen vocational education through technical partnerships and practical training support.

The new academy arrives as demand for digital and AI-related skills increases globally. It also comes at a time when Nigeria faces high youth unemployment and underemployment, pushing more young people to seek technology-related careers and remote work opportunities.

According to internal memos seen by Reuters, the tool is called the Model Capability Initiative (MCI). It will run on work-related apps and websites to gather examples of how staff use computers during their normal duties.

Meta said the aim is to improve its systems in tasks where AI still struggles, including using keyboard shortcuts, selecting options from drop-down menus and navigating software interfaces.

A company spokesperson said: “If we’re building agents to help people complete everyday tasks using computers, our models need real examples of how people actually use them, things like mouse movements, clicking buttons, and navigating dropdown menus.”

The spokesperson added: “There are safeguards in place to protect sensitive content, and the data is not used for any other purpose.”

Meta also said information collected through the tracking software would not be used for performance reviews or staff assessments.

This development is in line with a goal to place AI at the centre of daily work. Chief Technology Officer Andrew Bosworth told employees in a separate memo that the company’s long-term goal is to build systems that can carry out most tasks while workers guide and review the results.

He said: “The vision we are building towards is one where our agents primarily do the work and our role is to direct, review and help them improve.”

Meta has also encouraged staff to use AI tools for coding and other work, even where it may slow productivity in the short term.

The company has reportedly introduced a job label known as “AI builder” and created a new Applied AI engineering team to strengthen coding tools and develop workplace agents.

The latest changes come as Meta Platforms prepares to cut 10% of its global workforce from May 20, with more reductions expected later this year, according to the Reuters report.

Labour and privacy experts have raised concerns over the practice.

Ifeoma Ajunwa, a law professor and scholar of workplace surveillance said monitoring tools have usually been used to detect misconduct, but logging keystrokes pushes surveillance further by exposing office workers to close real-time monitoring once more common among delivery and gig workers.

She said: “On the U.S. side, federally, there is no limit on worker surveillance.”

Valerio De Stefano said similar monitoring would likely face legal limitations in Europe under privacy and labour laws, including the General Data Protection Regulation.

He also warned that awareness of constant monitoring can shift workplace power further towards employers.

Nigeria, home to over 200 million people and one of the youngest populations in the world, has a focus point for technology companies looking to build artificial intelligence skills.

AI is projected to contribute trillions of dollars to the global economy over the next decade, pushing governments and technology firms to invest more in digital skills and workforce training.

Experts say Nigeria has the talent base to become a commendable AI hub if skills development keeps pace with the rapid adoption of technology across sectors such as finance, telecommunications and public services.

TeKnowledge believes there are opportunities, but only if training programmes move beyond awareness and start producing job-ready talent.

The company helped deliver the first phase of Microsoft’s AI National Skilling Initiative in Nigeria last year. That programme introduced more than 50,000 Nigerians to foundational and intermediate AI skills, while over 3,000 participants completed advanced training and earned Microsoft AI certifications.

About 1,700 of those certified trainees were developers drawn from 40 technology companies already working within the Microsoft ecosystem.

Many went on to build working tools during a developer hackathon organised under the programme. The teams produced nine applied AI solutions designed for financial services, including systems for document verification, fraud detection and automated risk analysis.

A career fair held alongside the training connected participants with employers and technology partners. Some secured roles during the event, while others entered job placement pathways with companies looking to expand their AI capabilities.

The next phase aims to expand the pipeline.

TeKnowledge and Microsoft say the AI programme will now focus heavily on students, developers, entrepreneurs and members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), one of Nigeria’s largest graduate mobilisation platforms.

Universities are also an important part of the rollout, with physical engagements planned at institutions including the University of Lagos, Lagos State University and Covenant University, where undergraduates will work on applied AI projects.

The initiative also aligns with national capacity building efforts such as the 3 Million Technical Talent (3MTT) Programme, part of the federal government’s plan to expand Nigeria’s digital workforce.

Olugbolahan Olusanya, territory director for Africa at TeKnowledge, said the Microsoft programme is moving from broad AI awareness to deeper alignment.

“Nigeria stands at a defining moment in its digital journey. AI is no longer a future concept, it is a present opportunity. This next phase is about scale, depth, and measurable impact. We are committing to directly train 10,000 participants in Phase 2, with deliberate focus on youth, women, developers, and decision makers who will drive AI adoption across sectors. 

“The Career Fair ensures this initiative goes beyond training, creating direct pathways from learning to livelihood. We are not simply delivering programmes; we are strengthening Nigeria’s capacity to compete in an AI-powered global economy.”

The training will combine online learning with hands-on projects and in-person workshops. Cybersecurity awareness and responsible AI use will also be included in the curriculum, reiterating data protection as organisations deploy AI systems.

For Microsoft, the initiative aligns with its goal to expand digital skills across Africa. The company has already trained millions of Nigerians in different technology programmes over the past five years, with AI now becoming the central focus of its workforce strategy.

Olatomiwa Williams, chief growth and AI officer for Microsoft Middle East and Africa, said Africa has the chance to move from technology consumption to innovation.

“Africa has an incredible opportunity to become not only a participant, but a builder and co-creator in the global AI economy, but much of this promise depends on building the right skills for this exciting new era. Microsoft’s AI Skilling Initiative plays a critical role in enabling Nigeria’s national digital skilling efforts. 

“Already we have seen wonderful innovation and globally relevant local solutions coming from the talent here in Nigeria. By deepening AI skills and diffusing AI adoption throughout the economy, Nigeria and the African continent stand to benefit.”

TeKnowledge has operated in Nigeria since 2018 and now employs more than 2,000 engineers and technology specialists in the country, supporting global customers from its Lagos hub and delivering services to organisations in more than 90 countries.

Aileen Allkins, the company’s chief executive and president, said the countries that invest early in AI will set the pace for the next phase of economic competition.

“Around the world, nations that invest in AI literacy and responsible adoption today will define tomorrow’s economic leadership. Nigeria has the talent, the ambition, and the entrepreneurial energy to lead in Africa’s AI transformation.

“Our focus is to combine global expertise with strong local execution, ensuring AI skills are accessible, inclusive, and impactful at scale.”

In Nigeria, AI will definitely transform industries, and the process has already begun with TeKnowledge, Microsoft and many other innovators.

A new report by Column and Smarketers Hub reveals that while 71% of marketing teams across Africa already use AI tools regularly, only 26% have received formal training. 

Hence, Marketers are saving up to 10 hours a week with tools like ChatGPT, yet stumbling when it comes to strategy, automation, and data analysis.

The survey of 100 marketers, 90 based in Nigeria and others from Ghana, Zambia, and beyond, reveals that AI has become a fixture in everyday marketing. 95% of respondents use ChatGPT, 55% rely on Gemini, and 42% on Claude. Smaller groups use tools like Copy.ai (23%), Jasper (9%), DALL·E (11%), and Midjourney (4%). 

For 82% of marketers, content creation is the top use case, followed by ad copy (25%), audience research (22%), SEO (18%), and reporting (14%).

And the benefits are undeniable. 41% of respondents reported saving 4 to 6 hours per week, while 18% said AI gives them back more than 10 hours. Freelancers, who made up 15% of respondents, described AI as a lifeline, filling the gaps in teams too small to meet deadlines alone. 

One respondent said: “AI gives me a good structure. I then put my voice in the work before sending it out.”

But then, 57% described AI’s impact as very positive, 30% as somewhat positive, while only 8% held a neutral or negative view. When asked what still gets done manually, the answers were: “Everything.” and “99% of my work is content writing. So nothing I do is completely automated. AI-assisted? Yes. But it’s all manual.”

The problem isn’t desire but direction. 46% of marketers feel least confident in technical SEO, 40% in workflow integration, 39% in data analysis, and 38% in automation. 

Limitations are familiar, as 31% don’t know where to start, 26% lack time, 19% cite poor training resources, and 18% blame tight budgets. Despite these challenges, companies are offering little help, most respondents said they had received no AI-related training in the past year.

Aisha Owolabi, founder of Smarketers Hub, said “This report is a wake-up call for marketing leaders in Africa: AI isn’t just a future trend, it’s already reshaping how teams work. The data makes it clear — marketers are eager and experimenting, but without structured support they’ll remain stuck at the basics.”

Mo Shehu, CEO of Column, reiterated the urgency: “AI is reshaping how African marketers work. Teams are experimenting even without much formal training and already saving hours each week. The challenge for CMOs is turning those small wins into a structured, team-wide advantage.”

The report classifies teams into three categories. Beginners tinker without guidance, producing scattered results. Intermediates experiment more actively, especially in content and SEO, but lack standards and consistency. 

Only a handful of advanced teams embed AI fully into workflows, supported by playbooks, ongoing training, and ROI tracking; most African marketers today sit at the beginner or early-intermediate stage.

Looking deeper into the demographics, we see 88% of respondents were junior or mid-level marketers, meaning the future of AI in African marketing rests on early-career professionals with limited resources. For them, structured mentorship, localised training, and practical playbooks are highly important.

The report further forecasts three changes in the next 12 months:

1. Tool diversification: As Marketers get more confidence, they will start moving beyond ChatGPT into tools like Gemini, Claude, Canva AI, and Perplexity.
2. Formal training: companies embedding AI modules into onboarding, workshops, and performance reviews.
3. Team-level alignment: AI shifting from individual experimentation to coordinated campaign planning, reporting, and strategy.

But risks are increasing too. Regulation of AI use, particularly around data, content transparency, and ethics, is expected to tighten, both from governments and companies. The report warns CMOs to establish internal codes of conduct now, before misuse catches up with them.

“African CMOs have a chance to lead, not follow,” Owolabi said. For now, the continent’s marketers are eager but underprepared, productive but undertrained, saving hours every week but losing years of competitive advantage without the structure to take AI beyond the basics.

The course, titled “ChatGPT Foundations for K-12 Educators,” aims to demystify AI concepts and promote appropriate usage in education.  

Launched on Wednesday, the initiative targets educators teaching kindergarten through to 12th grade and focuses on practical applications of AI. 

Teachers can learn to use AI tools like ChatGPT for creating lesson plans, simplifying administrative tasks, and enhancing personalised learning experiences. 

The course also addresses topics including data privacy, AI ethics, and foundational AI knowledge. 

Leah Belsky, vice president and general manager of Education at OpenAI, noted the importance of readying both students and teachers with AI skills, which she views as essential for future career development. 

“The adoption of ChatGPT among students has been significant, and many parents are supportive of AI as a tool for enhancing education,” Belsky said. She highlighted the programme’s goal of promoting responsible and effective AI use in learning environments.  

The training programme, hosted on the Common Sense Media website, has already been piloted in several school districts with encouraging feedback. 

Early participants reported gaining insights and strategies for implementing AI in their teaching practices. A survey revealed that 98% of those who completed the course felt it provided actionable ideas they could incorporate into their classrooms.  

Since its debut in November 2022, ChatGPT has gained popularity for its generative AI capabilities, which allow users to produce essays, solve complex problems, and even create detailed lesson content. 

However, its introduction has not been without controversy. Issues over its misuse for cheating and plagiarism led to backlash and restrictions in some schools. 

This training initiative seeks to address these concerns by guiding educators on how to integrate the technology responsibly.  

Available at no cost, the programme does not require a ChatGPT subscription, making it accessible to educators and school districts globally. 

OpenAI’s partnership with Common Sense Media is expected to expand, with additional resources and initiatives planned to support AI adoption in education.

Without any prior announcement or consent from its users, the social networking platform is now using user-generated content to enhance its AI tools.

Users can, however, opt out of this arrangement by navigating to their account settings. Under the ‘Data Privacy’ section, a feature labelled “Data for Generative AI Improvement” allows individuals to disable the use of their data for AI training. 

While this stops LinkedIn from using your data in the future, it does not reverse the use of information already processed for this purpose.

This issue has led to complaints regarding transparency and user autonomy, particularly as LinkedIn rolled out this update without making a public announcement. 

Users argue that defaulting users into such programmes without their informed consent is a violation of privacy. In response, LinkedIn has added details about its generative AI practices to its privacy policy, which now explicitly states that the platform may use personal data to develop AI-driven services and insights.

The company claims it employs privacy-enhancing technologies to anonymise or redact personal data from its AI training sets. However, some users remain uneasy about the potential misuse of their data, particularly given the broader concerns over privacy in the digital space.

Notably, LinkedIn has confirmed that the use of personal data for AI training does not affect users residing in the European Union (EU), European Economic Area (EEA), or Switzerland due to stricter data protection regulations in those regions.

Users outside these regions who wish to prevent further use of their data must manually opt-out.

Apart from generative AI, LinkedIn also relies on machine learning for content personalisation and moderation.

Opting out of the generative AI training does not exclude users from other data-driven activities unless they also submit a LinkedIn Data Processing Objection Form, which offers more comprehensive data protection.

Meta recently notified users in the UK and Europe that, starting June 26, publicly shared information could be used to “develop and improve” its AI products. This includes posts, images, captions, comments, and Stories, but excludes private messages.

The European advocacy group NOYB (None of Your Business) has criticized Meta’s move, filing complaints with data protection authorities in 11 countries, including Austria, Belgium, France, and Germany. 

NOYB says that Meta’s use of years’ worth of user content constitutes an “abuse of personal data for AI.” The group has urged regulators to intervene and halt Meta’s plans, emphasizing that the changes contravene the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

Meta, however, maintains that its approach complies with privacy laws and is similar to practices adopted by other major tech firms. The company insists that its use of public user data is essential for training AI systems to reflect the diverse cultures and languages of European communities. 

In a blog post from May 22, Meta stated that such data would enhance the rollout of its generative AI features, which include chatbots and image generators.

Individuals, including NOYB founder Max Schrems, argue that Meta should seek explicit user consent rather than relying on a complex opt-out process. 

Users who wish to object must utilize a form explaining how the data processing affects them, a process Schrems describes as “highly awkward” and potentially dissuasive. 

Schrems has also pointed out that the European Court of Justice has previously ruled against similar uses of user data by Meta for advertising purposes, questioning the legitimacy of the company’s current approach.

Meta’s policy shift has drawn attention to issues of data privacy and the ethical use of personal information in AI development. The Irish Data Protection Commission, which oversees Meta’s compliance with EU laws, has acknowledged receiving complaints from NOYB and is investigating the matter.