Federal Ministry of Communications’ recent partnership with Hello.cv, aimed at connecting Three Million Technical Talent (3MTT) fellows with global recruiters, has drawn sharp criticism from stakeholders in the technology sector, who warned that the agreement effectively surrenders the nation’s data sovereignty for the sake of employment pipelines.

The core apprehension centres on jurisdictional control. As the 3MTT programme represents a billion-naira investment in human capital, its associated data, spanning biometrics, educational records, and proprietary skill certifications, is a strategic national asset.

Stakeholders at the weekend argued that channelling this sensitive repository through a foreign intermediary without binding data localisation clauses creates a scenario where Nigerian citizen information could be legally accessed by foreign entities, stored on offshore servers, or even used to train competing AI models, all beyond the reach of the Nigeria Data Protection Act.

The Federal Government of Nigeria, via the Federal Ministry of Communications, Innovation & Digital Economy, announced its landmark partnership with Hello.cv on May 6, 2026. The partnership serves as a $10 million activation designed to boost the global visibility of Nigerian tech professionals.

The $10 million agreement provides 20,000 selected 3MTT fellows with a global profile package, including an AI-powered job search agent, professional CV writer, and a personal .cv domain, valued at $500 each

However, pundits have picked holes in the agreement as it relates to the ‘Nigeria First’ engagement policy, and further expressed concerns over the security of data generated from the 20,000 fellows and sitting in Hello.cv domain, as the agreement allowed.

Speaking on the issue, Global Digital Economy Strategist and CEO, Cyberchain, Jude Ozinegbe, said: “Because when you register your domain under a different entity outside of your jurisdiction, that entity will have access to whatever is happening within that domain. So, in the long run, the NDPC may have to look at the contract and consider the security implications of such domain rights ownership.”

Ugonma Egwuatu of ECAM Global Services, an ICT and Data Protection firm, also expressed similar concerns. While not faulting the right of the Ministry to take decisions regarding the 3MTT operations, she noted: “If a government Ministry has given the trainees permission to use a foreign domain, then the attention of the Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC) should be drawn to it. The NDPC has a subscription to .ng as a requirement for its Data Protection Compliance Organisations (DPCOs).”

Proffering alternatives that wouldn’t have impinged on FG’s Nigeria First policy, CEO of DNS Africa, Dr Adebunmi Adeola Akinbo noted: “The .ng domain name is a domain name that easily can accommodate such a company (Hello.cv), if they say their brand is Hello.cv, no problem, they should come and buy hello.cv.ng, if they decide that this becomes like a business opportunity, an entrepreneurial ground for them to grow upon, they can send a mail and propose that, oh, we can onboard three million Nigerians or five million Nigerians to the domain name.”

Speaking from an investment point of view, Founding and incumbent Chief Executive Officer of Precise Financial Systems Ltd (PFS), Dr Yele Okeremi, noted that investment, particularly in tech and in the knowledge industry, was not just about having smart people.

He said: “And we have to understand how it works. It’s about who owns the investment and deserves the returns. So the question is, how much of the investment are we putting on the table? And when we talk about investment, we have to be very careful about this.”

In his opinion, Chief Executive Officer, Internet Exchange Point of Nigeria (IXPN), Muhammed Rudman, noted: “I don’t know where this one is coming from, but it’s totally unpatriotic for Nigerian companies to have .cv domain instead of having .ng domain.”