Announced by the Minister of Communications, Innovation, and Digital Economy, Dr Bosun Tijani, this expansion targets the development of Nigeria’s technical workforce, ensuring the nation becomes a huge source of tech talent.

Dr Tijani shared the announcement via social media platform X, encouraging both new and returning participants to engage with the learning resources available. 

Those already in the programme can access their training dashboards for foundational courses and assessments, while applications remain open to new entrants via the website.

The 3MTT programme has been structured in multiple phases to methodically scale Nigeria’s tech talent pool. Cohort 1, launched in the programme’s early phase, trained 30,000 individuals, followed by the second cohort in March, which enrolled 270,000 participants. 

The addition of 90,000 fellows to 3MTT cohort 3 kicks off further progress towards the goal of training three million Nigerians in marketable tech skills.

Reflecting on the success of previous cohorts, Tijani noted that many first-cohort participants have already gained placements as interns nationwide. 

Beyond on-the-job experience, these fellows are actively participating in hackathons, enabling them to apply their skills to real-world projects and showcase their abilities in building practical tech solutions.

The 3MTT initiative aligns closely with the government’s Renewed Hope agenda, which seeks to strengthen Nigeria’s digital economy and establish the country as a competitive exporter of tech talent. 

Participants are trained in a wide range of in-demand skills designed to boost productivity in roles that leverage digital tools, including Digital Marketing, Data Analysis, Project Management Software, Cloud Platforms, SEO, CRM Management, Accounting Software, Graphics Design, and UX/UI Design, among others.

The programme’s structure and curriculum were developed collaboratively, incorporating insights from government agencies, educational institutions, and industry partners. 

Through this support, the 3MTT initiative is providing individuals with the necessary skills and ensuring a solid talent pipeline that contributes to Nigeria’s economic transformation and competitive edge in the global tech industry.

The price hike will primarily affect users of the Canva Teams subscription, a service designed for businesses that allow multiple users to collaborate on projects. 

The company is attributing these changes to the expansion of its product offerings, particularly the integration of advanced tools.

For some users in the United States, the cost of a Canva Teams plan, previously priced at $120 per year for up to five users, is poised to soar to $500 annually. 

While a 40% discount will be applied for the first year, reducing the fee to $300, this still represents a substantial increase. Australian customers are also facing abrupt hikes, with the previous flat fee of $39.99 AUD per month for five users being replaced by a per-user charge of $13.50 AUD. This change could lead to a rise in costs by more than 68% for some teams.

This change will particularly impact those customers who had been enjoying lower legacy pricing, as Canva had earlier revised its pricing structure for new subscribers without notifying existing users. 

Starting in September, existing Canva Teams subscribers will be transitioned to the new pricing model, which requires a minimum of three users per team and charges $10 per user per month.

Canva’s spokesperson, Louisa Green, defended the decision by pointing to the platform’s expanded offerings. “Our suite of products has significantly evolved, with the launch of new tools like the Visual Suite and Magic Studio,” Green noted in a statement, highlighting the value these additions bring to the platform. 

She also explained that the original pricing had remained unchanged for four years and was due for an update to align with the platform’s enhanced capabilities.

Despite these explanations, the Canva price hike announcement has not been well received. The changes were communicated primarily through emails to affected customers, rather than through a public announcement, which has led to displeasure among users. 

Many have expressed their dissatisfaction online, with some stating their intention to cancel their subscriptions and switch to other design platforms, such as Adobe.

This latest price adjustment is a departure from Canva’s original positioning as a cost-effective alternative to more expensive design software. 

It also comes in the wake of the company’s acquisition of Serif, the firm behind the Affinity suite of creative tools, for a reported sum of several hundred million British pounds. 

These developments are taking place as Canva prepares for a potential public listing in the United States by 2026.

Inuwa said this on Sunday during the graduation ceremony of 1,353 beneficiaries of by ENGAUSA Global Tech Hub in collaboration with (NITDA).

During the graduation, young Nigerians including Almajiris and out-of-school children displayed various talents which they have learnt at the ENGAUSA Global Tech Hub especially in Computer Networking, Drone Technology, CCTV Installation & Access Control, Graphics Design, Electric Fencing, Smart Home Automation, Advanced Smart Phones Repairs, etc.

Inuwa stated that the training of unlettered youths to master skills of handling Computers and other digital services is a milestone, which he said is in line with the implementation of the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS) and NITDA’s Strategic Roadmap and Action Plan (SRAP 2021-2024).

With 30% of the participants totalling 400 of them establishing their startups while some of them already have a workforce of 10 employees, the DG expressed his delight at the overall output of the training, stating that it will propel a  reduction in unemployment rate and alleviate poverty in the country.

“I am very excited to see this graduation of 1,353 students who participated in the digital literacy programme organised by Engausa in partnership with NITDA. This further showed that we have talent in Nigeria and talent is the human component of the digital technology, therefore, we need to harness the talent for economic prosperity.

“We are graduating them mostly to promote digital literacy and digital job creation, which is part of Federal Government Digital Economy. Out of these 1,353 graduates, about 400 have started their independent busineses, employing others to work under them,” he said.

The DG commended the organisers for their effort in translating technology vocabulary to local language to ease understanding, adding that most of the technologically advanced nations like France, Japan, India and China use their mother tongues to teach their young scientists, thus Nigeria should consider doing so.

While reiterating NITDA’s ambitious target of achieving 95 percent digital literacy, as well as short-term plan of training one million developers in the next 18 months, Inuwa gave 100 smart devices, courtesy of NITDA, to the performing students who have excelled in various digital skills among their peers.

Speaking earlier, Engineer Auwal Ringim, the Proprietor of Engausa Digital Literacy said the event is encouraging the development of skills and ideas from inception to actualisation.

He said the reason why he introduced the training on Programming, Video Editing, Blogging, Graphic Designs, Web Design, and Android development, Social Media Literacy, and Digital Marketing, is to identify natural talents from young persons who have not been to conventional schools to acquire basic digital skill so that they can be self-reliant.

Engineer Mustapha Habu Ringim, the CEO of ENGAUSA Global Tech Hub, while making his remark, appreciated the support of NITDA towards the successful completion of the scheme.

He noted that his organisation has achieved a lot by graduating the total number of 1,700 since the commencement of the scheme from 2019 till date, adding that the good number of those graduated are entrepreneurs, workers in digital driven firms and renewable energy, while some of them are freelancers in digital technology.