The Federal Government has announced plans to create one million export-linked jobs and produce 10 million globally certified Nigerians by 2030 as part of efforts to reposition the country’s education and skills system for the global labour market.
Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, disclosed this at the “Hire From Nigeria” side event held on the margins of the 81st United Nations General Assembly in New York. He said the Federal Ministry of Education was building a talent pipeline directly linked to global employment opportunities through reforms in education, technical training and professional certification.
The minister’s remarks were contained in a statement issued on Sunday in Abuja by Mr Ikharo Attah, Special Adviser on Media and Communications to the Minister of Education.
Speaking at the event, Alausa said Nigeria’s National Talent Export Programme would require the education sector to produce trained, certified and adaptable workers capable of competing in the global outsourcing and digitally enabled services market.
He said Nigeria’s young population, English-language advantage, cultural adaptability and growing digital capabilities provided a strong foundation for participation in the global services economy.
“Nigeria’s greatest asset is its people: a young, ambitious, English-speaking and increasingly digitally capable population.
“Our task in Education is to turn that scale into verified competence and reliable service delivery,” he said.
According to the minister, skills, quality and reliability would determine Nigeria’s competitiveness as employers’ needs continue to change.
He identified the gap between training and employer demand, limited access to work-based learning and inadequate access to internationally recognised certification as key challenges facing the country’s talent development efforts.
Alausa said the ministry was addressing these gaps through curriculum reform, stronger accreditation and quality assurance, as well as expanded digital and technical training.
“We need a permanent employer-led feedback loop, not occasional curriculum reviews,” he said.
The minister called for greater employer participation in programme design, training, assessment, certification and recruitment, saying education and training must remain closely connected to labour-market needs.
He also said the reform agenda was aimed at changing perceptions of Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) by positioning skills training as a pathway to income, enterprise and global employment opportunities.
Alausa disclosed that the Federal Government’s free TVET programme had received more than one million applications, with 160,000 trainees supported through about 1,200 centres across the country.
He said the centres included Federal Technical Colleges and accredited private training centres.
The minister added that the government was promoting different pathways to employment and enterprise through university education, TVET, apprenticeships and continuous upskilling.
He said the pathways were designed to give Nigerians opportunities for employment, entrepreneurship and further learning.
Alausa also identified artificial intelligence and other advanced technologies as key considerations in preparing young Nigerians for the future of work.
“We must train young people to work with artificial intelligence, not to compete with it on routine tasks,” he said.
He said the focus should increasingly be on skills that complement technology, including judgement, creativity, domain knowledge, data literacy, cybersecurity, cloud services, software development, customer success and quality assurance.
The minister said the Digital Training Academy was partnering with global learning providers, including Coursera and Pluralsight, to give 32,000 Nigerians free access to professional digital and technology training.
According to him, the training covers areas such as product management, cloud computing, cybersecurity, information technology automation, artificial intelligence and machine learning, financial technology and natural language processing.
Alausa also said the Student Venture Capital Grant was supporting students in Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics and Medicine (STEMM) disciplines to turn innovative ideas into viable businesses.
He said the pace of technological change meant Nigeria’s education system must enable young people to continuously learn, unlearn and retrain throughout their careers.
The minister therefore urged international employers, Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) operators, investors and development partners to move beyond expressions of interest and build practical partnerships and investable talent pipelines.
He called on employers to clearly define their skills requirements, co-design training programmes, provide work-based learning opportunities, recognise credible Nigerian certifications and recruit from Nigerian talent pools.
Alausa also urged BPO operators and investors to establish and expand delivery centres beyond Nigeria’s largest commercial cities, while supporting training infrastructure, connectivity, quality systems and management capacity.
He said development partners could support the initiative through scalable certification, instructor development, inclusion of women and underserved communities, labour-market intelligence and outcome measurement.
The minister further said international institutional partnerships and centres of excellence in Nigerian institutions would help strengthen global linkages, benchmarking and knowledge transfer.
He said the ministry would deepen industry participation in curriculum development and certification, expand market-relevant TVET and digital-skills programmes, and strengthen accreditation and quality assurance.
Alausa reaffirmed the ministry’s commitment to aligning education reform with President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda, particularly its focus on human capital development, job creation, skills acquisition and inclusive economic growth.
He said the ministry would continue to build an education and skills system that connects Nigerian talent to employment opportunities, strengthens the country’s position in the global economy and enables young Nigerians to build sustainable careers at home and abroad.
