Nigeria has no excuse being left behind in fourth industrial revolution, says NITDA DG

• Agency to train one million developers in 18 months
• Google reiterates support for businesses in Africa, graduates 5,000 from Hustle Academy

Director General and Chief Executive Officer, National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Kashifu Abdullahi, has said Nigeria has no excuse to be left behind in a fourth industrial revolution, even as he disclosed that the agency would train one million Nigerians as developers in the next 18 months.

Abdullahi made this known at the 2022 Google Hustle Academy graduation, held in Ikeja, Lagos.

The event, held simultaneously in Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa, celebrated 5,000 business owners who have completed the Google Hustle Academy training programme.

Launched in February, Hustle Academy provides practical business training, which helps business owners learn soft skills that complement their hard talents, through peer-to-peer and mentor driven learning.

At the events, Google also announced a new speaker series in which successful African entrepreneurs share lessons and advice, furthering its commitment to helping entrepreneurs and small businesses thrive.

This year’s graduates were chosen from nearly 10,000 applications. The 5,000 graduates come from 23 cohorts who attended five-day virtual bootcamps, where they learned how to define their business strategy, increase sales, and how to pitch for investor funding. The curriculum also included lessons on digital marketing and effective financial planning.

Abdullahi said: “In Nigeria, small and medium businesses (SMEs) contribute more than 46 per cent and account for 96.7 per cent of the workforce in the country. So, SMEs are the lifeline of our economy.

“Our target is to train one million developers in the next 18 months. We want to have 350,000 trained developers before the end of 2022 and we will complete the one million mark in 2023.”