The federal government says it is working to create one million export-linked jobs and produce 10 million globally certified Nigerians by 2030 through reforms in education and skills development.

Ikharo Attah, special adviser on media and communications to the Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, made this known in a statement on Sunday in Abuja.

Mr Attah said Mr Alausa made the remarks at the “Hire From Nigeria” side event on the margins of the 81st United Nations General Assembly in New York.

Mr Alausa said the Federal Ministry of Education was playing a key role on the supply side of the National Talent Export Programme by building a talent pipeline linked directly to global employment opportunities.

He said the ministry was repositioning Nigeria’s education and skills system to produce trained, certified and adaptable talent capable of competing in the global outsourcing and digitally enabled services market.

According to him, Nigeria’s youthful population, English-language advantage, cultural adaptability and growing digital capabilities provide 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.

Mr Alausa said skills, quality and reliability would determine Nigeria’s competitiveness in a rapidly changing global market.

He identified the gap between training and evolving employer demand, limited work-based learning opportunities, and access to internationally recognised certification as challenges requiring attention.

The minister said the ministry was addressing the challenges through curriculum reform, stronger accreditation and quality assurance, and expanded digital and technical training.

“We need a permanent employer-led feedback loop, not occasional curriculum reviews,” he said.

Mr Alausa stressed the need for employers to participate in programme design, training, assessment, certification and recruitment.

He said the reform agenda also sought to change perceptions of Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) by positioning skills training as a pathway to income, enterprise and global opportunities.

The minister disclosed that the federal government’s free TVET programme had attracted more than one million applications, with 160,000 trainees supported through about 1,200 centres nationwide.

He said the centres included federal technical colleges and accredited private training centres.

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

He said each pathway was designed to provide opportunities for employment, entrepreneurship and further learning.

The minister said preparing young Nigerians for an economy increasingly shaped by artificial intelligence and advanced technologies was another priority.

“We must train young people to work with artificial intelligence, not to compete with it on routine tasks,” he said.

He said the focus was increasingly on skills that complemented technology, including judgement, creativity, domain knowledge, data literacy, cybersecurity, cloud services, software development, customer success and quality assurance.

Mr Alausa said the 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 fields including product management, cloud computing, cybersecurity, information technology automation, artificial intelligence and machine learning, financial technology and natural language processing.

The minister added that the Student Venture Capital Grant supports students in Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics and Medicine (STEMM) disciplines to turn innovative ideas into viable enterprises.

Given the pace of technological change, Mr Alausa said Nigeria’s education system must enable young people to learn, unlearn and retrain throughout their careers.

He therefore urged international employers, business process outsourcing (BPO) operators, investors and development partners to move beyond expressions of interest towards practical partnerships and investable talent pipelines.

He urged employers to define their skills requirements, co-design training programmes, provide work-based learning, recognise credible Nigerian certifications and recruit from Nigerian talent pools.

Mr 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 capability.

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 said international institutional partnerships and centres of excellence in Nigerian institutions would further 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 pathways, and strengthen accreditation and quality assurance.

Mr 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 opportunities, strengthens Nigeria’s position in the global economy, and enables young Nigerians to build sustainable careers at home and abroad. 

(NAN)