Coursera's new partnership could help upskill millions of Nigerians in high-demand IT skills

Global online learning platform, Coursera has announced its partnership with Nigeria’s National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), to facilitate the country’s transformation into a digital economy.

This partnership, which was officially launched on Wednesday will see the online learning platform work with NITDA to provide selected learners with access to world-class educational content from top universities and industry leaders including Yale, Meta, Google, and IBM.

The platform which claims to have supported the educational development of over 1.3 million Nigerians and 107 million globally plans to also upskill young unemployed Nigerians in high-demand tech professions including data analysis, cybersecurity, product design, machine learning, and software engineering, as demand for IT roles continues on the rise.

As part of the deal, Coursera will support the Nigerian government in improving the technical capabilities of the country’s public sector, the first collaboration of its kind in Nigeria.

The partnership could also help combat high rates of youth unemployment, which stood at 19.6% in 2021. Coursera and NITDA intend to reach 8,000 Nigerian learners in the first year of the partnership.

Learners will have access to Coursera’s Professional Certificates portfolio, which are designed to empower learners to gain the skills necessary to pass an industry certification exam or launch a career in a specific field, such as IT support within three months.

This partnership will see the county's educational system which has for a long time been bisected by a myriad of problems including poor funding, poor educational infrastructures, inadequate teaching aids, and paucity of quality teachers improved and consequently tackle the high unemployment rates in the country.

Additional reporting by Emmanuel Oyedeji.