More than 50% of 3MTT’s first cohort dropped out – Alex Onyia

While the 3 Million Technical Talent (3MTT) programme has been widely heralded as an initiative designed to build tech talent for the Nigerian digital space, the mission seems to have fallen short of expectations. 

The project, tailored to equip Nigerian youths with tech skills and fuel Nigeria’s $1 trillion economy ambition, reportedly saw 50% of its first cohort withdraw along the way. According to Alex Onyia, an Educationist and CEO of Educare, who was at the 3MTT National Impact Summit held on Thursday, December 11, he noted that half of the participants (15,000) were displaced in value during the process. 

The first cohort of the 3MTT program, launched in December 2023, selected 30,000 fellows from all 36 states and the FCT. In its anatomy, fellows were expected to equip skills that utilise technology to enhance various roles without directly involving tech creation. 

However, Alex Onyia expressed disappointment at how the program failed to equip majority of participants with the tools and facilities needed to learn and thrive in their selected skills. In the explanation made on his X account on Friday, he engaged with 50 random people who participated in the program to get their opinions. 

“They enrolled 30,000 people in this cohort and only gave laptops to less than 1000 people. How then do they want them to learn? This made more than half of the participants drop out of the first cohort,” he said. 

As the program largely operated via online platforms, most fellows had no laptops, while some suffered from internet connections, both contributing to their drop out. With little or no resources to facilitate their training, this set of participants lacked practical exercises and got disconnected from the online training. 

“The only people who had good things to say were those who had no previous computer knowledge. It lifted them up to a level of literacy, but for people with mid-level knowledge, they said it was of no value to them,’ he added. 

Although 1,000 laptops were reportedly distributed at the first cohort, it was short of the 30,000 fellows admitted. In an alarming revelation, the Educare Boss noted that one of the fellow he interviewed was learning coding with his phone.

Also Read: President Tinubu reaffirms digital workforce commitment at 3MTT Summit.

3MTT: a vision with little impact

From its inception, the Federal Ministry of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy (FMCIDE) had described 3MTT as an initiative that aims to digitally empower Nigerian youths and link them to job opportunities across the country. 

However, the initiative, which was practically a flagship project of the ministry, was believed to have made little impact. While it was acknowledged as an initiative with significant vision, the implementation was off plan. 

Critics on the social media platform X felt that while the 3MTT vision is ‘strong’, it made little impact. It was described as an initiative that provides no skills to people with mid-level knowledge and offers a level of digital literacy to individuals with no computer knowledge. 

In addition, it was tagged as a program focused on doing big numbers in terms of admitted individuals in each cohort, and failed in its implementation plans.

Most critics were in agreement that the ministry needs to focus on investing in infrastructure, including building learning hubs in state and local learning hubs, and providing laptops and reliable internet connection.

“My recommendation as they scale up to 250,000 people is that they invest in large learning hubs across different states and local governments. They should also provide laptops and stable internet for all learners,” Alex Onyia advised.

While there have been success stories from fellows who showcased how the program shaped their careers, critics claimed the impact is low, and the ministry needs to do better going forward. 

Current status of 3MTT

The 3 Million Technical Talent (3MTT) program is a critical part of the Renewed Hope agenda of President Bola Tinubu’s administration. It is aimed at building Nigeria’s technical talent backbone to power its digital economy and position the country as a net talent exporter.

The program started with 30,000 Nigerians, representing 1% of the 3 million target, while the 270,000 selected for the second cohort increased the quota to 1%. The 90,000 participants picked for the third cohort brought the number to 13%.

An additional 25,000 were admitted under this Airtel Africa Foundation partnership with the Ministry, bringing the total cohort to 415,000, representing 13.9%.

During the 3MTT National Impact Summit on Thursday, December 11, the ministry unveiled the next phase of the 3MTT Programme, focused on deepening state-level collaboration, expanding training hubs, and accelerating pathways into employment and entrepreneurship.