Nigeria’s Federal Ministry of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy has partnered with Meta, 3MTT and RAIN to launch an AI academy.
The initiative aims to expand Nigeria’s AI talent pool and strengthen the country’s growing technology ecosystem. Meanwhile, the programme will help participants develop practical AI skills for the digital economy.
The academy will move participants from basic AI awareness to practical applications through training, technical support and commercial opportunities. According to Meta,the programme will feature three components: AI skills development, a startup pitchathon and a six-week developer bootcamp.
The skills programme will target the wider 3MTT community and provide courses across several areas of artificial intelligence. Participants will learn generative AI, prompt engineering, multimodal AI and data analytics. Additionally, participants will learn to develop applications using Meta’s Llama models.
The six-week Developer Bootcamp, to be delivered by RAIN, will provide selected developers and startups. The programme will provide intensive, hands-on training to help participants build functional AI products. Furthermore,participants will receive technical guidance and access to Meta’s AI experts.
Participants will access the courses through platforms such as Coursera, DeepLearning.AI and DataCamp at no cost. In addition, the top 100 performers will qualify for scholarships towards Meta Blueprint certifications. They will also receive up to $5,000 in Meta advertising credits.
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Meanwhile,two winning startups will each receive $5,000 in cash funding and $2,000 in Meta advertising credits. Both winners will receive an all-expenses-paid opportunity to represent Nigeria at Meta’s AI Summit. The summit will take place in Istanbul, Türkiye, in November.
The initiative comes as artificial intelligence increasingly shapes technology development, business productivity and digital product creation. As a result,Nigeria needs more developers who can build and deploy practical AI solutions. A stronger local talent pool could reduce reliance on imported technical expertise.
Moreover,it could give Nigerian startups the skills needed to compete across regional and global markets.
“Through this partnership, we are equipping developers, entrepreneurs, and young professionals with practical AI skills while creating pathways for innovation and globally competitive startups,” Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Dr Bosun Tijani, noted.
The minister said the initiative reflected the government’s commitment to building Nigeria’s AI ecosystem through public-private partnerships and strengthening the country’s position in Africa’s digital economy.
“Nigeria is home to some of Africa’s most dynamic AI talent. What many founders and developers need is greater access to practical training, funding and platforms to build impactful solutions,” Head of Public Policy, Anglophone West Africa at Meta, Sade Dada, stated.
Founder and Chief Executive Officer of RAIN, Dr Olushola Ayoola, said the partnership demonstrated the importance of coordinated efforts in developing Nigeria’s AI capabilities.
“Building Nigeria’s AI capacity requires the kind of coordinated effort we are seeing here,” Ayoola remarked.
The government is increasingly embracing AI and other emerging technologies to drive Nigeria’s digital economy, while technology companies are working to expand the pool of developers who can build applications on their platforms.
