The Federal Ministry of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy has partnered with Meta, the 3 Million Technical Talent (3MTT) programme and Robotics and Artificial Intelligence Nigeria (RAIN) to establish an AI Academy that will equip Nigerians with practical artificial intelligence skills. The initiative is designed to expand the country’s AI talent base, strengthen its technology ecosystem and support the development of innovative digital solutions.
The academy will provide free training to members of the 3MTT community in areas including generative AI, prompt engineering, multimodal AI, data analytics and application development using Meta’s Llama models. Courses will be delivered through Coursera, DeepLearning.AI and DataCamp, while the top 100 participants will qualify for Meta Blueprint certification scholarships and up to 5,000 dollars in advertising credits.
A major feature of the programme is the AI Startup Pitchathon, which will give emerging Nigerian startups an opportunity to showcase AI driven innovations. Ten startups will be selected to pitch at GITEX Nigeria in September, with two winners receiving 5,000 dollars each in cash funding, 2,000 dollars in Meta advertising credits and an all expenses paid trip to represent Nigeria at Meta’s AI Summit in Istanbul, Türk
Speaking on the partnership, Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Dr Bosun Tijani, said the initiative demonstrates the government’s commitment to building a globally competitive AI ecosystem through public and private collaboration. Meta’s Head of Public Policy for Anglophone West Africa, Sade Dada, added that the academy will provide developers, entrepreneurs and young professionals with the practical training, funding and support needed to build solutions that can compete across Africa and beyond.