FG Partners With Coursera To Train 24,000 Nigerians 

A new partnership between the Nigerian government and the online digital learning platform Coursera would see the platform teach approximately 24,000 Nigerians digital skills.

By Omotayo Olutekunbi

The announcement’s speaker, Prof. Isa Pantami, Minister of Communications & Digital Economy, stated that the training’s goal is to “champion a paradigm shift of prioritizing hard, soft and social skills over theory.“

Coursera has teamed with the National Information Technology Development Agency, or NITDA, to give some chosen students access to top-notch educational material from renowned institutions and business titans, furthering the federal government’s goal to boost digital capabilities.

Yale, Meta, Google, and IBM are just a few of the prestigious institutions that are a part of this cooperation with Nigeria, which marks Coursera’s first government engagement with the nation.

In addition, the cooperation allows NITDA to grant 10% of the licenses acquired through the agreement to young people without jobs, giving them access to top-notch digital skills including data analysis, cybersecurity, machine learning, and software engineering.

Pantami further mentioned that the FG has established a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Microsoft, a leading global technology company, to teach five million Nigerians in a variety of technological sectors.

He said that this was part of the government’s attempts to meet the standards for digital transformation set forth in the Nigeria Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS).

The minister suggested that the online education platform expand its operations in Nigeria while noting that it already has a collaboration with Covenant University, a private institution of higher learning there.

Pantami also stated that in order for Coursera to have an influence on learners through its platform, it should target at least one Nigerian academic institution in each geopolitical zone. This would allow them to contribute their knowledge to the settings that have been identified.