By Adeola Kunle
The Federal Government has commenced a stronger alignment of Nigeria’s education and skills development system with the demands of the international labour market, with the aim of producing certified, adaptable and employment-ready professionals for the global outsourcing and digitally enabled services economy.
The Minister of Education, Dr. Maruf Tunji Alausa, CON, disclosed this during the Hire From Nigeria side event held on the margins of the 81st United Nations General Assembly (UNGA 81) in New York.
Alausa explained that the Federal Ministry of Education is serving as the supply engine of the country’s national talent-export strategy by developing a reliable pipeline of skilled Nigerians whose training is directly connected to international employment opportunities.
“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,” the Minister said.
According to him, Nigeria’s youthful population, proficiency in English, cultural adaptability and expanding digital capabilities place the country in a strong position to participate in the global outsourcing and digitally enabled services sector.
He noted that the sector could generate employment, boost export earnings and allow Nigerians to access international careers while remaining in the country.
The Minister, however, stressed that the sustainability of this opportunity would depend largely on the quality, relevance and reliability of the skills being produced by the education system.
He identified the disconnect between existing training and changing employer requirements, inadequate opportunities for work-based learning and limited access to internationally recognised certifications as some of the major challenges requiring urgent attention.
To address these gaps, Alausa said the Federal Ministry of Education is implementing curriculum reforms, strengthening accreditation and quality assurance, and expanding digital and technical training through federal institutions and credible private-sector training providers.
“We need a permanent employer-led feedback loop, not occasional curriculum reviews,” he said, adding that employers should participate throughout the process, from programme design and training to assessment, certification and recruitment.
The Minister also said the reform programme was aimed at repositioning technical and vocational education and training (TVET) as a practical route to employment, entrepreneurship, income generation and international opportunities.
He disclosed that the Federal Government’s free TVET programme had received more than one million applications, with 160,000 trainees supported through about 1,200 centres across the country. The centres include Federal Technical Colleges and accredited private training facilities.
Alausa said the Government was equally expanding the routes through which Nigerians can acquire skills and secure livelihoods, including university education, TVET, apprenticeships and continuous professional upskilling.
He explained that each of these pathways should provide opportunities for employment, entrepreneurship and further education.
The Minister further identified the impact of artificial intelligence and advanced technologies on the future of work as a major consideration in Nigeria’s education reforms.
“We must train young people to work with artificial intelligence, not to compete with it on routine tasks,” he said.
He explained that greater emphasis was now being placed on skills that complement emerging technologies, including critical judgement, creativity, specialised knowledge, data literacy, cybersecurity, cloud services, software development, customer success, quality assurance and AI-enabled operations.
As part of the digital-skills drive, the Federal Government, through the Digital Training Academy, is collaborating with international learning platforms, including Coursera and Pluralsight, to give 32,000 Nigerians free access to professional digital and technology training.
The training areas include product management, cloud computing, cybersecurity, information technology automation, artificial intelligence and machine learning, agentic artificial intelligence, financial technology, parallel computing, quantum computing and natural language processing.
The Minister also highlighted the Student Venture Capital Grant as another initiative designed to help students in STEMM disciplines convert innovative ideas into viable businesses, thereby strengthening the relationship between education, innovation and enterprise.
With technology evolving rapidly, Alausa said Nigeria’s education system must equip citizens with the ability to continuously learn, unlearn and acquire new skills throughout their working lives.
He therefore called on international employers, Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) operators, investors and development partners to progress from expressions of interest to concrete partnerships capable of creating investable and sustainable talent pipelines.
He urged employers to clearly identify their skills requirements, participate in the design of training programmes, provide work-based learning opportunities, recognise credible Nigerian certifications, recruit from Nigerian talent pools and provide feedback on the performance of employees.
According to him, BPO companies and investors should also establish and expand service delivery centres beyond Nigeria’s major commercial cities while supporting training infrastructure, digital connectivity, quality assurance systems and management capacity.
He said development partners could contribute by supporting scalable certification programmes, instructor training, inclusion of women and underserved communities, labour-market intelligence and systems for measuring outcomes, particularly employment outcomes rather than simply the number of people trained.
The Minister further advocated international institutional partnerships and the establishment of centres of excellence in Nigerian institutions to deepen global connections, improve benchmarking and facilitate knowledge transfer.
In return, he said the Federal Ministry of Education would continue to increase industry participation in curriculum development and certification, expand market-driven TVET and digital-skills programmes, strengthen accreditation and quality assurance, and create stronger links between educational institutions, training providers and employers.
The initiatives are part of the Ministry’s responsibilities on the supply side of the National Talent Export Programme, which supports the national objective of creating one million export-linked jobs and producing 10 million globally certified Nigerians by 2030.
Alausa disclosed that the Ministry is also leading the Supply Technical Working Group under the National Talent Export Programme.
He reaffirmed the Federal Ministry of Education’s commitment to ensuring that education reforms support President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda, particularly in the areas of human capital development, employment creation, skills acquisition and inclusive economic growth.
“Under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda, our commitment is clear: we will continue to invest in the skills, knowledge and innovation of our young people and build an education system that gives Nigerian talent the capacity and confidence to compete and succeed anywhere in the world,” Alausa said.
The Minister maintained that the Government’s efforts would remain focused on creating an education and skills ecosystem that links Nigerian talent with global opportunities, strengthens the country’s participation in the international economy and enables more young Nigerians to establish sustainable careers both within Nigeria and abroad.
Adeola Kunle
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