The Federal Government is repositioning Nigeria’s education and skills system to produce trained, certified and adaptable workers capable of competing for jobs in the global outsourcing and digitally enabled services market, Minister of Education, Dr. Maruf Tunji Alausa, CON, has said.
Alausa disclosed this at the Hire From Nigeria side event held on the margins of the 81st United Nations General Assembly in New York, where he said the Federal Ministry of Education was positioning itself as the supply engine of the country’s national talent-export agenda.
He said the government’s ambition was to build a talent pipeline directly connected to international employment opportunities, particularly as demand grows for digitally enabled services.
“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 Alausa, Nigeria’s youthful population, English language advantage, cultural adaptability and growing digital capabilities provide a strong foundation for participation in the global outsourcing economy.
He said the sector could create jobs, increase export earnings and enable Nigerians to build globally sourced careers without leaving the country.
However, he identified the mismatch between training and changing employer demands, limited work based learning and inadequate access to internationally recognised certification as key challenges that must be addressed.
To bridge the gaps, Alausa said the ministry was pursuing curriculum reform, stronger accreditation and quality assurance, alongside expanded digital and technical training through federal institutions and credible private providers.
“We need a permanent employer led feedback loop, not occasional curriculum reviews,” he said, stressing that employers should participate in the process from programme design and training to assessment, certification and recruitment.
The minister also said the reform agenda would seek to change perceptions of technical and vocational education by presenting skills training as a direct pathway to income, entrepreneurship and global employment.
Alausa disclosed that the Federal Government’s free Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) programme had attracted more than one million applications, with 160,000 trainees supported through about 1,200 centres nationwide.
The centres include Federal Technical Colleges and accredited private training institutions.
He said the government was promoting multiple pathways to employment and enterprise, including university education, TVET, apprenticeships and continuous upskilling, with each pathway offering opportunities for employment, entrepreneurship and further learning.
The minister said preparing young Nigerians for an economy increasingly shaped by artificial intelligence and advanced technologies was another priority.
“We must train young people to work with artificial intelligence, not to compete with it on routine tasks,” he said.
He explained that the focus was shifting towards skills that complement technology, including judgement, creativity, domain knowledge, data literacy, cybersecurity, cloud services, software development, customer success, quality assurance and AI-enabled operations.
Alausa said the Federal Government, through its Digital Training Academy, was partnering with global learning providers, including Coursera and Pluralsight, to give 32,000 Nigerians free access to professional digital and technology training.
The programme covers areas such as product management, cloud computing, cybersecurity, information technology automation, artificial intelligence and machine learning, agentic AI, financial technology, parallel computing, quantum computing and natural language processing.
He added that the Student Venture Capital Grant was supporting students in STEMM disciplines to turn innovative ideas into viable businesses, strengthening the link between education, innovation and enterprise.
Given the pace of technological change, Alausa said the education system must enable Nigerians to continuously learn, unlearn and retrain throughout their careers.
The minister challenged international employers, Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) operators, investors and development partners to move beyond expressions of interest and commit to practical partnerships and investable talent pipelines.
He urged employers to define their skills requirements, co-design training programmes, provide work based learning, recognise credible Nigerian certifications, recruit from Nigerian talent pools and provide feedback on workforce performance.
BPO operators and investors, he said, should establish and expand delivery centres beyond Nigeria’s largest commercial cities while supporting training infrastructure, connectivity, quality systems and management capacity.
Development partners, according to him, could contribute through scalable certification programmes, instructor development, inclusion of women and underserved communities, labour market intelligence and employment focused outcome measurement.
He also called for international institutional partnerships and centres of excellence in Nigerian institutions to strengthen global linkages, benchmarking and knowledge transfer.
In return, Alausa said the Ministry of Education would deepen industry participation in curriculum development and certification, expand market relevant TVET and digital skills pathways, strengthen accreditation and quality assurance, and improve links between institutions, training providers and employers.
The initiatives form part of the ministry’s role on the supply side of the National Talent Export Programme, which supports the national ambition of creating one million export linked jobs and 10 million globally certified Nigerians by 2030.
Alausa reaffirmed the ministry’s commitment to aligning education reforms with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda, particularly its focus on human capital development, job 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,” he said.
He said the ministry would remain focused on building an education and skills system that connects Nigerian talent to global opportunities, strengthens the country’s position in the international economy and enables more young Nigerians to build sustainable careers at home and abroad.
