Group of diverse pupils engaging in an online course discussion via video call, participating at the remote class seminar from the campus library. Young people takes notes from academic tutor.
The Federal Government has selected 16,000 Nigerians for the first cohort of its Digital Training Academy (DTA), following 72,850 applications received from the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory.
The National Coordinator, Special Projects and Innovation Unit (SPOIU) at the Federal Ministry of Education, Adebayo Onigbanjo, announced this on Wednesday in Abuja ahead of the national launch of the academy scheduled for September 14, 2026. He said 19,699 applicants met the qualifying benchmark, while 16,000 were eventually selected for the first cohort.
The free training programme is aimed at equipping Nigerian youths with globally recognised digital skills to compete in the global digital economy.
Applications for the first cohort opened on August 17 and closed on September 1, with 72,850 registrations recorded from the 36 states and the FCT.
The DTA is a free, Federal Government-backed digital skills training initiative under the Nigerian Education Digital Initiative (NEDI).
Onigbanjo said the academy was a key intervention under the Nigerian Education Sector Renewal Initiative (NESRI), designed to provide young Nigerians with in-demand digital competencies at no cost to beneficiaries.
According to him, the initiative is also part of the Federal Government’s response to President Bola Tinubu’s directive to develop a generation of Nigerians with skills certified to international standards.
He said the programme would help ensure that Nigerian youths acquire the competencies needed to compete effectively in the global digital economy.
Onigbanjo disclosed that beneficiaries of the Federal Government’s 3 Million Technical Talent (3MTT) programme had been integrated into the first cohort of the academy.
He added that learners nominated through partner institutions, including Yaba College of Technology and the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN), had also been enrolled in the programme.
The national coordinator said the integration of existing digital skills initiatives demonstrated the government’s commitment to building on investments already made in digital capacity development.
He disclosed that the training would be delivered through two global learning partners, Coursera and Pluralsight.
According to Onigbanjo, Coursera would provide training across six tracks: Cybersecurity, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, Financial Technology, Product Management, Natural Language Processing and Quantum Computing.
He added that Pluralsight would provide training in four areas, including Agentic AI, Proactive Security, IT Automation and Cloud Computing.
Onigbanjo said every learner in the first cohort would train toward obtaining a certification recognised not only in Nigeria but also by employers and institutions around the world.
He urged all successful applicants to log into their accounts and accept their licence offers to enable them to commence classes immediately.
The national coordinator said the DTA was a core pillar of NESRI’s Data and Digitalisation initiative and aligned with the Renewed Hope Agenda’s focus on human capital development.
He said the first cohort marked the beginning of the academy’s national expansion, adding that further details on subsequent cohorts would be unveiled at the national launch on September 14.
