FG targets 1m export-linked jobs, 10m IT certified Nigerians by 2030

• Unveils strategy to position youths for global labour market

From Fred Ezeh, Abuja

The Federal Government has set a target of one million export-linked jobs and 10 million globally certified Nigerians by 2030, as part of its efforts to position the country’s youthful population for opportunities in the international labour market.

The 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.

Alausa said the Federal Ministry of Education was playing a critical role on the supply side of the National Talent Export Programme by building a pipeline of trained, certified and adaptable Nigerians, whose skills could meet the demands of employers in the global outsourcing and digitally enabled services market.

He said Nigeria’s large youthful population, English-language advantage, cultural adaptability and growing digital capabilities offered significant opportunities for the country to expand its participation in the global 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,” the minister said.

According to him, the global outsourcing and digitally enabled services economy could provide Nigerians with jobs and internationally sourced careers without necessarily requiring them to leave the country.

He, however, said the opportunity could only be sustained if the country addressed the mismatch between education and evolving employer requirements, inadequate work-based learning opportunities and limited access to internationally recognised certification.

Alausa said the Ministry was, therefore, pursuing curriculum reforms, stronger accreditation and quality assurance, as well as expanded digital and technical training through Federal institutions and credible private training providers.

He stressed that employers must play a more direct role in shaping the education and skills pipeline, insisting that industry participation should extend from programme design to training, assessment, certification and recruitment. “We need a permanent employer-led feedback loop, not occasional curriculum reviews,” he said.

The minister disclosed that the Federal Government’s free Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) programme had received more than one million applications, with 160,000 trainees supported through approximately 1,200 centres nationwide, including Federal Technical Colleges and accredited private training centres.

He said the government was also promoting multiple pathways to employment and enterprise, including university education, TVET, apprenticeships and continuous upskilling.

Alausa said the pathways were being designed to provide opportunities for employment, entrepreneurship and further learning, while changing the perception of technical and vocational education as an inferior alternative to university education.

On the impact of artificial intelligence and emerging technologies on employment, the minister said Nigeria must prepare young people to work alongside technology rather than compete with it in routine tasks. “We must train young people to work with artificial intelligence, not to compete with it on routine tasks,” he said.

He identified judgement, creativity, domain knowledge, data literacy, cybersecurity, cloud services, software development, customer success, quality assurance and AI-enabled operations as some of the skills required in the emerging labour market.

As part of efforts to expand access to such skills, Alausa said the Federal Government, through its Digital Training Academy, was partnering with global learning providers, including Coursera and Pluralsight, to provide 32,000 Nigerians with free access to professional digital and technology training.

He said the programme covered high-demand and emerging fields including product management, cloud computing, cybersecurity, IT automation, artificial intelligence and machine learning, agentic AI, financial technology, parallel computing, quantum computing and natural language processing.

The minister also cited the Student Venture Capital Grant as another intervention aimed at enabling students in STEMM disciplines to turn innovative ideas into viable businesses, thereby strengthening the connection between education, innovation and enterprise.

He urged international employers, Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) operators, investors and development partners to move beyond expressions of interest and commit to practical partnerships and investable talent pipelines.

According to him, employers should define their skills requirements, co-design training programmes, provide work-based learning, recognise credible Nigerian certifications, recruit from Nigerian talent pools and provide feedback on workforce performance.

He also called on BPO operators and investors to establish delivery centres beyond the country’s largest commercial cities, while supporting training infrastructure, connectivity, quality systems and management capacity.

Alausa said development partners could support the talent-export agenda through scalable certification, instructor development, inclusion of women and underserved communities, labour-market intelligence and systems that measure employment outcomes rather than merely the number of people trained.

He said international institutional partnerships and centres of excellence in Nigerian institutions would further strengthen global linkages, benchmarking and knowledge transfer.

The minister said the Ministry would, in return, deepen industry participation in curriculum development and certification, expand market-relevant TVET and digital skills pathways, strengthen accreditation and quality assurance, and improve the connection between institutions, training providers and employers.

Alausa said the initiative aligned with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda, particularly its focus on human capital development, job creation, skills acquisition and inclusive economic growth.

“Under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda, our commitment is clear: we will continue to invest in the skills, knowledge and innovation of our young people and build an education system that gives Nigerian talent the capacity and confidence to compete and succeed anywhere in the world,” he said.