, in collaboration with 251 other reporting organisations, has recorded 2,769,512){kind=link}
By: Muhammad Jalal
The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), in collaboration with 251 other reporting organisations, has recorded 2,769,512 digital literacy training achievements across Nigeria in the last three years, as the Federal Government intensifies efforts to equip citizens with the skills needed to participate in the digital economy.
The figure, representing 5.54 per cent of the target of reaching 50 million beneficiaries by 2027, was disclosed through the National Digital Literacy Dashboard unveiled at the 2026 National Digital Literacy Workshop in Abuja.
The dashboard shows that 252 organisations are actively reporting their digital literacy interventions, with activities covering all 36 states of the federation, the Federal Capital Territory and all 774 local government areas.
The initiative, spearheaded by NITDA under its Digital Literacy for All (DL4ALL) programme, is designed to expand access to digital competencies through partnerships with government institutions, technology companies, educational institutions, non-governmental organisations and other stakeholders.
Speaking at the workshop, NITDA Director-General, Kashifu Inuwa CCIE, said Nigeria’s greatest resource was its human capital, stressing that deliberate investment in digital capabilities was essential to improving productivity and creating economic opportunities.
He said digital literacy had become as fundamental as reading, writing and numeracy, particularly as technology and artificial intelligence continued to transform how people learn, work, communicate, trade and access public services.
“Our ambition is not to turn every Nigerian into an IT professional. Our ambition is to make every Nigerian digitally capable,” Inuwa said.
He explained that the objective was to enable Nigerians to use digital tools to improve their existing occupations, citing the potential for traders to manage business records and receive digital payments, farmers to access weather forecasts and market information, teachers to improve classroom learning, and public servants to deliver more efficient services.
According to the dashboard, young people below the age of 35 account for 2,092,697 of the reported beneficiaries, while informal-sector workers constitute 1,609,183.
Female participation stands at 32.9 per cent, while the platform records 65,767 beneficiaries from rural communities and 17,156 persons with disabilities.
The figures highlight both the scale of the ongoing interventions and the need to strengthen inclusion, particularly for women, rural residents and persons with disabilities.
The dashboard further identifies companies as the largest category of reporting organisations, accounting for 151 of the 252 participants, or 59.9 per cent. Government institutions account for 43 organisations, non-governmental organisations 34, while cooperatives, community organisations and other entities make up the remainder.
Among the leading contributors, Cisco recorded 1,073,604 training achievements, followed by NITDA with 960,424 and Meta Platforms Inc. with 333,816. Other contributors include Imo Digital City Limited, the Sokoto State Ministry of Innovation and Digital Economy, the Bureau for ICT and Digital Economy, and state technology agencies in Jigawa, Kaduna and Zamfara, as well as the Centre for Information Technology and Development.
Inuwa said the launch of the National Digital Literacy Dashboard marked an important step towards coordinating interventions, identifying underserved communities and ensuring that investments in digital skills produced measurable outcomes.
He noted that the absence of coordinated reporting had sometimes resulted in organisations delivering similar interventions in the same communities while other areas remained underserved.
“At NITDA, we see our role as an ecosystem orchestrator,” he said, explaining that the agency’s responsibility extended beyond implementing its own programmes to establishing standards, partnerships and coordination mechanisms that would enable stakeholders to maximise their collective impact.
The Director-General, however, cautioned that the number of recorded training achievements should not automatically be interpreted as the number of unique Nigerians who had attained a defined level of digital proficiency.
He said the dashboard’s records must be complemented by credible assessments of the competencies acquired by participants, how they apply their skills and the benefits generated in their lives and communities.
According to him, the agency intends to measure progress beyond training attendance by examining whether beneficiaries can communicate more effectively, protect themselves against online fraud, access information confidently and improve their businesses, jobs and livelihoods.
The National Digital Literacy Framework, established in 2023, provides the foundation for the initiative, identifying six competence areas covering device and software operations, information and data literacy, communication and collaboration, digital content creation, digital safety and problem-solving.
NITDA launched DL4ALL in 2024 to translate the framework into practical interventions across formal education, workforce development and the informal sector. Its collaboration with the National Youth Service Corps has also enabled Digital Literacy Champions to take training into markets and communities, with programme reporting recording more than 20,000 trainers and over 803,000 trainees through the informal-sector initiative.
The National Digital Literacy Framework targets 70 per cent digital literacy by 2027 and 95 per cent by 2030, in line with the government’s broader ambition to build a $1 trillion economy by 2030.
Earlier, various speakers took turns calling on state governments, technology companies, educational institutions, development partners and civil society organisations to register their interventions and submit credible data to the dashboard, stressing that achieving the national targets required collective responsibility.
The ultimate objective was to ensure that digital literacy became an opportunity available to all Nigerians, enabling them to improve productivity, access economic opportunities and contribute to national development.
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