The FATE Foundation and African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS) have partnered with Google.org to launch the Africa AI Upskilling Programme. This initiative was launched at the African Centre of Excellence for Drug Research, Herbal Medicine Development and Regulatory Science (ACEDHARS), University of Lagos.

It aims to create a sustainable and scalable ecosystem for advanced AI education in Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, and South Africa.

The initiative targets higher education institutions across Africa, lecturers and teaching assistants (AI Champions), and penultimate and final-year STEM students by providing a comprehensive AI curriculum to train them and strengthen institutional capacity.

Speaking at the launch, Head, Digital Innovation, FATE Foundation, Oluchi Johnson-Achibiri, said that despite the role AI plays in reshaping work, economies and opportunities, several gaps continue to limit Africa’s AI readiness.

She highlighted gaps such as curriculum gaps, faculty expertise gaps, weak industry-academia linkages, infrastructure limitations, and fragmented training efforts, adding that the objective of this initiative is to bridge these gaps using a Train-the-Trainer model.

“The goal is simple: equip HEI (Higher Education Institution) lecturers whom we are calling AI Champions with the knowledge, mentorship, and resources they need to deliver a localised version of the Google DeepMind curriculum to STEM students.

“This model was designed not only to train individuals, but to strengthen institutions, build capacity, and create a system that can grow beyond one classroom, one campus, and one country,” said Johnson-Achibiri.

She listed institutions that will be included in the programme as the University of Lagos, Afe Babalola University, Federal University of Technology Akure, University of Benin, Bayero University, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Gombe State University, Federal University of Otuoke, the University of Nigeria, and Federal University of Technology Owerri.

Sub-Saharan Africa Programme Manager, Google.org, Marital Arinze, said the partnership with the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS) and the FATE Foundation will embed advanced AI training and education, leveraging Google.org’s DeepMind AI research foundations curriculum into universities across Nigeria.

Speaking about the reason Africa serves as the host continent for this programme, Matita revealed that by 2030, Africa will be home to the world’s largest workforce, adding that Nigeria is at the beating heart of the movement with one of the largest African economies, premier startup hubs, and home to one of the most dynamic developer communities.

“So we stand at a critical inflexion point. If we do not intervene today, the rapid acceleration of AI kind of risks widening the digital divide. And so the choices we make right now will really determine whether Africa can lead in this AI revolution or is kind of left behind,” said Matita.

Programme Director, 3MTT Nigeria, Francis Sani, who spoke on Advancing AI Education and Institutional Capacity in Africa/Nigeria, said the people who will power the workforce of the future will come from Africa.

He noted the importance of teachers in the project, branding them 1000x humans and adding that a singular teacher who has the capacity can multiply human capital at a scale that very few other people can.