The Minister of Communications, Innovation, and Digital Economy, Dr. Bosun Tijani, has said that the government is working on the possibility of providing unemployment benefits for Nigerians participating in its ongoing 3 Million Technical Training (3MTT) program.
Tijani disclosed this on Thursday as he announced the selection of 270,000 fellows for the second cohort of the program.
The Minister said the idea of the unemployment benefits for participants was at the behest of President Bola Tinubu, who is deeply committed to the program.
According to him, the 3MTT program is based on the President’s promise of creating 2 million digital jobs.
While noting that the country is now building the emerging talent for the workforce that the world requires to be able to power the application of technology, the Minister said:
- “The President has been very clear; he has asked that we also look at the possibility of providing unemployment benefits to those who qualify within this program.
- “As we continue to build out these opportunities, our goal is to support our people to ensure that we can give them the skill set that they require to participate in the global digital economy.
- “We understand that as we empower them, we will end up strengthening our ability to defend our GDP as a country to defend the complexity of our economy as well as ensure that we continue to drive the growth that we want to see in our beloved country.”
Tijani further disclosed that a significant number of fellows in the first cohort of the program are now being placed into jobs as interns all over the country.
Beyond that, he said all the fellows from the first phase are now at a stage where they will be participating in hackathons within their states to put what they’ve learned into practice; working together with their peers, and building solutions that can showcase their expertise.
- “As we continue to interact, we are working with partners to ensure that those of them who want to go the route of entrepreneurship can be supported to kick off their small businesses to start their technology startups and hopefully help create the solutions to many of the problems that we face in the country that technology can help address,” the Minister added.
The Minister said a total of 270,000 young and old Nigerians have been selected as fellows for the second cohort of the program, bringing it to 10% after the first 30,000. The program is targeting to train 3 million Nigerians and according to the Minister applications so far received stood at about 1.8 million.
- “For all those selected, welcome on board! Please check your email inboxes and #3MTT dashboards to receive additional instructions on the next steps.
- “For those who have not yet been selected as fellows, remember that you are part of the 3MTT Learning Community and you will have access to resources to continue your learning journey,” he said.
