Bosun Tijani
“A healthy pipeline of talent”

From the legal framework to training and talent incubators... Getting to grips with tech to become a key player.

AM: In November 2023, you launched a training program for 3 million technological talents. What are its initial results?

Bosun Tijani: Our 3 Million Technical Talent programme, known as 3MTT, is progressing steadily. It emphasizes inclusion, ensuring participation from all 774 local government councils in Nigeria and especially from underserved communities, women, and youth. It’s an initiative that will have significant potential on the talent landscape, not just in Nigeria but globally. This is why a key objective for the programme is to make Nigeria a net exporter of technical talent in terms of in-demand skills in technology, similar to what we have seen India do in the recent past.

3MTT has been structured in 3 phases - Phase 1: Protototype, where we started with 1% of our desired target (30,000 fellows) and that went very successfully. We took the learnings and best case practices from that phase to improve on delivery of the trainings and learning in Phase 2 - Pilot, which is focussing on taking the total number of fellows trained to 300,000 which represents 10% of our target. Once we are done with that we will move to scale aggressively in Phase 3 by 2025 with the aim of reaching our 3 Million objective by 2027. Early results are promising. Fellows from the initial cohorts are already getting placed in jobs and already playing their part in growing Nigeria’s digital economy. We are also grateful for the partnerships we’ve been able to secure with organisations like IHS Towers, MTN, UNDP, AWS, Microsoft among others even as we are also seeing increased interest from local and global tech companies for advanced training and job placement opportunities.

In your opinion, how many young people could be impacted by the new technology sector?

With the majority (over 60%) of our population under the age of 25, we expect tech to play a significant role in the lives of many young Nigerians over the decade. This potential is driven by the exponential growth of the global tech economy, easy access to skills, and the increasing adoption and consumption of digital platforms and services in our country. Currently, there are over 4.5 million unfilled tech jobs worldwide, with around 30 million more to be created over the next four years. We therefore have the opportunity to build up a pool of talent to meet this demand. Through strategic investment in education, artificial intelligence, digital infrastructure and innovation, we want to give our young people the means to build careers and take advantage of economic and growth opportunities in technology.

What is the status of the bill on digital economy and e-governance?

It is currently at an advanced stage of legislative review and is expected to be passed in the coming months. We are in the process of presenting it to the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, in order to obtain wide ranging input from public and private sector stakeholders who will be impacted by its enactment. This ground-breaking stakeholder consultation - the first of its kind in Nigeria - is to ensure full engagement, given the critical role of the digital economy in economic development. The Bill will formalise the framework for digital public infrastructure and e-governance, streamline access to government services and foster innovation by bringing legal clarity around emerging technologies such as AI, blockchain and fintech. Fundamental changes are expected, including better service delivery for citizens, greater transparency in governance and a stronger legal framework to attract foreign investment in Nigeria's technology sector.

The DevsInGovernment initiative is designed to improve public service delivery. What exactly is it?

The ‘DevsInGovernment’ initiative is a key part of our strategy to embed technology innovation in governance. It is a community or practice bringing together technology professionals and enthusiasts across government ministries, departments and agencies to share knowledge, foster learning, collaborate and collectively create solutions for digital transformation to improve the delivery of public services. This initiative also serves to embed the use of technology across government and ensure that frontline users then become champions across government.

You’re very involved in the advent artificial intelligence and have received a 2.8 billion naira grant from Google for this purpose. How do you intend to use and regulate AI in Nigeria?

We are betting heavily on AI and the impact it will have on our economy. I'm particularly pleased with the support we've received from a number of organisations such as Google, but also Luminate, which has supported our community of AI practitioners - AI Collective - with $1.5 million in funding. Google's grant is being used to support the training of young Nigerians, as well as educators and policy-makers in data science and AI. Support is also being given to ten Nigerian start-ups working on AI innovation in areas such as health, agriculture, education and public services. We decided to take the lead on how it shapes our future, particularly from the perspective of the Global South. We began by crafting our national artificial intelligence strategy, bringing together experts of Nigerian origin from around the world working in the field to co-create this document. We have been able to clearly establish a cohesive direction for the work we are doing, and we are seeing this being recognised through Nigeria's improved ranking in AI globally. We are also supporting the development of a a multilingual local Large Language Model, which will facilitate the development of AI applications. All this has also strengthened our capabilities to become a talent hub for AI, starting with the basic level of tagging and annotation, and gradually developing local skill sets to become competitive in the global market.

You state that your country's ambition is to become ‘a global supplier of technology talent’. How do you plan to do this?

The Nigerian Innovation Ecosystem, which is the home to 6 out of 8 Unicorns in Africa, is a top destination for investment, attracting between 20 to 25% of Global funding that comes to Africa. However, the talent pool that built the Nigerian Tech Ecosystem is made up of just over 10,000 tech professionals, actively contributing to global companies and start-ups. Imagine the exponential impact of raising that number significantly by creating a talent supply to match growing global demand. Nigeria can contribute up to 22% of the current global workforce gap. To make this happen, we are not only scaling our 3MTT but also enhancing access to high-speed internet and digital tools through our plan to lay 90,000 km of fibre optic cable across Nigeria to complement the existing infrastructure.