The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has opened applications for Cohort 3 of professional courses in partnership with Coursera.
This move aligns with the agency’s commitment to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s ‘Renewed Hope’ agenda to create one million digital jobs in the information technology sector.
In a bid to address the high rates of youth unemployment, standing at 19.6 per cent in 2021, NITDA and Coursera launched a partnership on October 19, 2022, to train 8,000 Nigerian learners annually. The partnership aims to empower learners with world-class educational content from renowned institutions like Yale, Meta, Google and IBM.
Coursera’s professional certificates portfolio, offered through this collaboration, is designed to equip learners with the skills needed for industry certification exams or to launch a career in specific fields, such as IT support, within three months. The 32 professional certificates cover high-growth careers, including data analytics (Google), social media marketing (Meta) and software development (IBM), aligning with the expected creation of 3 million digital jobs in the Nigerian labour market in the next four years.
Cohorts 1 and 2 witnessed the graduation of 8,000 learners, comprising students, government workers, entrepreneurs and academics. The data indicates a strong enthusiasm among Nigerians for digital upskilling on the Coursera platform, with learners completing an average of five courses each. The skills developed in the previous cohorts span Computer Science (31.83 per cent), Business (35.73 per cent) and Data Science (32.44 per cent).
The focus of Cohort 3 will align with the 3 Million Tech Talent (3MTT) initiative of the Ministry of Communication, Innovation and Digital Economy, covering areas such as software development, ui/ux design, data analysis & visualizations, quality assurance, product management, data science, animation, AI/machine learning, cyber security, game development, cloud computing and devops.
Interested Nigerians are invited to apply through the provided link: https://links.nitda.gov.ng/coursera2401. The application period starts on Wednesday, January 24, 2024 and the programme is set to commence on February 10, 2024.
A statement signed by the agency’s head of corporate affairs and external relations, Mrs Hadiza Umar, stated that the initiative underscores the commitment of NITDA and Coursera to fostering digital skills development, contributing to Nigeria’s technological advancement and creating a skilled workforce to drive the nation’s digital economy.
