‎Nigeria secures €11M EU funding to scale 3MTT digital skills programme‎

By Chioma Obinagwam
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‎Nigeria’s ambition to become a global exporter of technology talent has received a major financial boost: €11 million in fresh funding from the European Union (EU) and the Government of Denmark.
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‎Confiance News gathered that the commitment was announced in March 2026, at the official launch of the 3MTT Partner Network in Lagos, an event that also marked the transition of the Three Million Technical Talent Programme from its pilot phase into what officials are calling 3MTT 2.0.
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‎The EU contributed €5 million, while Denmark pledged €6 million, bringing international backing to one of Africa’s most ambitious digital skills initiatives.
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‎Dr Bosun Tijani, Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, addressed the gathering and framed the investment as a strategic alignment between Nigeria’s demographic advantage and Europe’s deepening talent shortage.
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‎Europe faces an ageing workforce, he noted, while Nigeria has a young population that, if properly skilled, can supply the global market with the technical professionals it needs.
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‎The 3MTT programme has so far trained over 160,000 fellows across three cohorts, operating through more than 200 active learning centres in all 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). An additional 1.87 million Nigerians are already in the registration pipeline. The 2026 federal budget has committed over N10 billion to support the programme’s next phase.
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‎With the Partner Network now live, the programme is shifting its focus from training volumes to measurable employment outcomes. The six-tier platform connects organisations ranging from employers to training providers to fellows, creating a structured ecosystem.
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‎Confiance News reports that pioneer corporate partners including IHS Towers, MTN, Airtel, AWS, Google, Microsoft, and Huawei have collectively pledged over $25 billion in support.
‎For young Nigerians outside the programme, a parallel opportunity has opened: NITDA and Airtel Nigeria have launched the 2026 Airtel-3MTT NextGen Fellowship, targeting high-potential individuals ready to transition into the tech workforce, backed by Airtel’s N1 billion commitment to digital inclusion.
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‎The question Nigeria must now answer is whether the training pipeline can translate into real jobs at scale. Officials say execution, not funding, will determine the outcome of 3MTT 2.0.
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