Yemisi Izuora
Nigeria has said it recorded 2.77 million digital training certifications against its target of 50 million by 2027.
The figures were released by the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) on Tuesday, October 20.
That represents just 5.54 per cent of the target, although the figure does not necessarily mean that 2.77 million different people have received training. Private companies account for a significant share of the reported results.
Of the 252 organizations that submitted data to the new national dashboard, 151 are businesses.
Cisco leads with approximately 1.07 million reported training completions, followed by NITDA with nearly 960,000 and Meta with around 334,000.
These figures highlight the private sector’s contribution to Nigeria’s digital skills efforts, although the number of reported completions alone does not establish how many unique individuals have benefited.
NITDA launched the dashboard to bring together information on training programs, their geographic reach, and the skills they teach. The reported data cover activities across all 774 local government areas and 14,664 communities nationwide. The platform is expected to help identify underserved areas, improve coordination between training initiatives, and reveal gaps in national coverage.
However, measuring the skills participants actually acquire remains a challenge. A dashboard snapshot dated Thursday, October 15, recorded approximately 1.28 million people with verified digital literacy skills.
This is a separate measure from the 2.77 million training completions reported several days later.
The NITDA Director General Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi stressed that counting beneficiaries is not enough to assess progress. Authorities must also determine whether participants can apply what they have learned in their jobs and everyday lives.
Access to training also remains uneven. Women account for 32.9 per cent of reported beneficiaries, while people with disabilities and rural communities are among the groups that need better access to digital skills programs.
NITDA aims to raise Nigeria’s digital literacy rate to 70 per cent by 2027 and 95 per cent by 2030. Meeting those targets will require more than an increase in training opportunities.
It will also depend on the country’s ability to verify the skills people acquire and reach communities that remain underserved
The report shows that young people below 35 years account for 2,092,697 of the beneficiaries, while women represent 32.9 per cent of participants.
It also indicates that 1,609,183 informal sector workers have benefited from the initiative.
The dashboard of the Agency further records 65,767 rural beneficiaries and 17,156 persons with disabilities among those reached.
A breakdown of participating organisations shows that private companies account for the largest share, with 151 organisations, representing 59.9 per cent of active reporting entities.
Government institutions account for 43 organisations, representing 17.1 per cent, while non-governmental organisations (NGOs) account for 34, or 13.5 per cent.
Other participating entities comprise 14 organisations, while cooperatives account for six and community organisations four.
The NITDA ranks second, with 960,424 beneficiaries, while Meta Platforms Inc. ranks third, with 333,816.
Other leading contributors include Imo Digital City Ltd., with 72,896 beneficiaries; the Ministry of Innovation and Digital Economy, Sokoto, with 58,573; and the Bureau for ICT and Digital Economy, with 56,582.
The Jigawa State Information Technology and Digital Economy Agency recorded 52,814 beneficiaries, while the Kaduna State Government’s Kaduna AGILE Project trained 45,758 people.
The Zamfara Information Technology Development Agency recorded 24,756 beneficiaries, while the Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) trained 22,563 Nigerians.
The figures highlight the contributions of government institutions, private companies and civil society organisations to expanding access to digital literacy across the country.
However, with progress at 5.54 per cent of the 50 million target, the dashboard indicates that significant additional efforts will be required to meet the 2027 goal