The Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Bosun Tijani, on Thursday highlighted major policy decisions made under President Bola Tinubu in the last two years, saying the reforms have strengthened Nigeria’s digital economy and laid the foundation for large-scale technology talent development.
Mr Tijani spoke at the 3MTT National Impact Summit held at the Presidential Banquet Hall, Abuja, where he credited the president’s commitment to “firing up the base” and ensuring that reforms directly benefit the average Nigerian.
He said the administration has enacted far-reaching policies, including the signing of the National Data Protection Commission Act, which gave Nigeria its first standalone data protection regulator.
“This commission is now recognised all over the world as one of the very best in Africa,” he said.
The minister added that in October 2023, President Tinubu approved the 3MTT initiative as the “largest technology talent accelerator programme in the world.”
He also noted that in May 2024, the president committed to expanding national connectivity by approving a $2 billion investment in 90,000 kilometres of fibre optic cable to provide Nigerians with “the best internet that is available anywhere in the world.”
According to him, the project is the largest of its kind in any developing country.
Mr Tijani said the president further declared all telecommunications and ICT infrastructure as critical national infrastructure in August 2024, granting them protection similar to military assets.
Speaking on telecom sector challenges, he said: “For 10 years, they had been struggling to change the pricing of their services, and in January 2025, the president allowed these companies to increase their tariffs after a thorough study.”
He added that the government recently approved the deployment of about 4,000 telecom towers in rural communities.
“This initiative will bring close to 23 million Nigerians that are currently not connected at all into the digital economy,” he noted.
3MTT and job creation
Mr Tijani said the celebration of 3MTT aligns with the president’s commitment to job creation.
“Our president said he would like to create a million technology jobs,” he recalled.
He said analysis by the ministry showed that there were over 4.5 million unfilled jobs in the technology sector at the end of 2023, adding:
“This means creating one million technical jobs is not something Nigeria cannot achieve.”
He added that about 59 per cent of the workforce will require upskilling, and that global projections show 170 million tech jobs will be created by 2030.
With Nigeria’s youthful population, he said the country is well positioned for global competitiveness. “We are in a good position to truly become a net exporter of talent,” he said.
This realisation, he added, informed the establishment of 3MTT as the world’s largest technology talent accelerator, designed to train three million Nigerians for both local and international markets.
Mr Tijani said the ministry received strong private sector support even when there was no government budget for the programme.
“IHS Towers came forward and decided to put ₦1 billion into 3MTT,” he said.
He added that IHS further invested ₦1.5 billion into renovating the damaged tech park in Kano, alongside other investments in Kwara and Borno states.
“MTN also turned up with ₦3 billion, followed by ₦1 billion from Airtel,” he noted.
AWS provided credits, while Google “invested over ₦2 billion into training technical talents focused on deep technology.”
He said Wema Bank provided credit worth over $10 million, The Alternative Bank offered ₦5 billion in device financing, Microsoft invested $1 million in training, and SecureID supported fellows who contributed to what he described as “the first government-backed large language model in Africa.”
Progress so far
The minister said over 1.8 million Nigerians applied for 3MTT within a month of its launch, adding: “These are uniquely identified individuals from every state and every local government.”
To ensure proper delivery, he said the ministry adopted a phased model: “We focused on 1 per cent, then 10%, and finally 100% of the three million target.”
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Training for the first 30,000 participants began in December 2023, while the second phase started in July 2024.
He said the programme has already recorded “over 15,000 direct jobs in the first batch,” with some participants earning over ₦250,000 in their first roles.
He added that 201 applied learning centres have been activated, with over 600 facilitators and 15 e-learning providers engaged.
He also noted that 37 community managers funded by IHS, support the programme across all states and the FCT.
“SCC provided laptops worth over ₦1.5 billion,” he added, while “over ₦400 million has been given out in prizes.”
He said the programme’s Net Promoter Score of 8.5 out of 10 shows strong satisfaction among participants.
“You didn’t need to know anybody to be part of this programme… this is a programme for you,” he said.
