Coursera Inc., a global online learning platform, has announced a collaboration with the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) to help the country transition to a digital economy.
This is Coursera’s first government collaboration in Nigeria. According to a recent statement, the partnership will begin on October 19, 2022.
The statement revealed that Coursera and NITDA plan to reach 8,000 Nigerian students in the first year of their partnership.
“Coursera will be providing NITDA’s selected learners with access to world-class educational content from top universities and industry leaders – including Yale, Meta, Google, and IBM,” it added.
According to the statement, Coursera will assist the Nigerian government in improving the technical capabilities of the country’s public sector, and 10% of the licenses secured by NITDA (as part of the agreement) will be assigned to unemployed youths.
It claimed that this would provide them with the skills needed to thrive in today’s workforce, such as data analysis, cybersecurity, machine learning, and software engineering.
The partnership with Coursera will also provide Nigerian learners with access to the platform’s professional certificates portfolio, according to the statement.
“Nigeria’s economic success is being driven by the success of its telecommunications sector, which achieved its highest-ever contribution to national GDP in the second quarter of 2022,” said Anthony Tattersall, vice-president for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA), Coursera.
Working with NITDA, he added, would allow Coursera to provide Nigerians with the skills needed to continue driving growth in the country’s ICT sector, thereby contributing to a more diverse, competitive, and skilled economy.
“Globally, there is a shortage of talents, so we are creating a mandate to develop a talent strategy because we have a competitive advantage as a country with our vast human and natural resources,” said Kashifu Inuwa, director-general of NITDA, while speaking on the partnership.
“By partnering with Coursera to upskill our workforce, Nigeria can seize the opportunity to fill that gap.”
