Up to 50,000 Nigerian youths will receive free digital-skills training through Cisco, while employers are expected to gain access to a wider pool of digitally skilled talent. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Cisco and the European Union-backed Nigeria Jubilee Fellows Programme (NJFP) formalised their partnership at the UN House in Abuja on Friday.
Training and the labor market
The beneficiaries are NJFP fellows and alumni. They’ll access Cisco's Networking Academy platform on a rolling basis, with training intended to strengthen their readiness for careers that require digital competencies. The program adds digital instruction to workplace learning the federal initiative already offers.
The NJFP connects Nigerian graduates with structured workplace learning and employment opportunities. The federal government funds the initiative, the EU provides funding, and UNDP implements it. Through the partnership, participants gain workplace exposure and access to Cisco's technology training platform.
The training aims to address graduate unemployment and demand for technology-driven jobs. It also responds to a stated gap between formal education and the practical skills businesses demand. The program says its benefits include improved employability and competitiveness in the labor market; its wider impact, however, depends on whether graduates turn training into jobs, entrepreneurship and other sustainable economic opportunities.
Young people make up about 70 per cent of Nigeria's population, the EU delegation said. It described youth skills development and access to productive employment as critical to inclusive economic growth. Yet the initiative reaches up to 50,000 fellows and alumni, while the delegation's population figure refers to young people across the country generally.
Government, development agencies and business
Mr. Akubo Adegbe, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Delivery and Coordination, represented the Office of the Vice President's Delivery Unit at the signing. He said the collaboration would strengthen the link between skills acquisition and job creation. Adegbe said it aligned with President Bola Tinubu's Renewed Hope Agenda priorities: employment generation, economic opportunities and human capital development.
The EU called the partnership part of its support for a more competitive and inclusive Nigerian economy. Ms Yolanda San Jose, the Head of Green and Digital Economy at the EU Delegation to Nigeria and ECOWAS, said the bloc remained committed to youth empowerment and Nigeria's digital economic development. She said the EU's Global Gateway strategy supported a competitive, greener and inclusive economy where young people could drive innovation and create sustainable economic opportunities.
UNDP Resident Representative Ms Elsie Attafuah said the partnership brought Cisco's technology expertise together with UNDP's development experience to help young people secure meaningful employment and sustainable livelihoods. Fellows and alumni will receive free access to the platform, while employers are expected to gain a wider pool of digitally skilled talent. The account gives no wage terms, job placements or employment guarantees for graduates.
What the program measures
Digital technologies increasingly shape business operations, financial services, communications and other sectors, according to the program account. It presents digital competencies as increasingly important across industries and links them to graduates' employment prospects. The program provides training alongside workplace exposure. Whether that combination produces jobs depends on outcomes after training.
Representatives of the federal government, the EU, development partners, NJFP fellows and alumni attended the signing ceremony. They formalised the partnership through a Memorandum of Understanding signed at the UN House in Abuja on Friday. Its stated objective is to connect skills and workplace experience with employment in a competitive labor market, while giving employers a broader pool of digital talent.