The Federal Government, Meta and local technology organisations have launched AI Academy Nigeria, a national initiative aimed at strengthening Nigeria’s artificial intelligence talent and innovation ecosystem.
The programme is a partnership between Meta, the Federal Ministry of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy through 3MTT and NCAIR, and Robotics and Artificial Intelligence Nigeria. It will provide developers, startups, students and early-career professionals with practical AI training and startup support.
Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Dr Bosun Tijani, said the initiative would equip young Nigerians with practical AI skills while creating pathways for innovation and globally competitive startups through public-private collaboration.
AI Academy Nigeria will run through three streams: AI Skills Development, a Startup Pitchathon and a six-week Developer Bootcamp. The tracks will provide foundational AI education while supporting developers and founders working on AI-enabled products.
The Startup Pitchathon is open to early-stage Nigerian startups using Meta’s AI technologies to address real-world problems, with applications closing on August 21. Ten startups will pitch at GITEX Nigeria on September 3, while two winners will each receive $5,000 cash, $2,000 in Meta advertising credits and an opportunity to represent Nigeria at Meta’s AI Summit in Istanbul.
The AI Skills Development stream is open to the wider 3MTT community and offers free courses through Coursera, DeepLearning.AI and DataCamp, covering generative AI, prompt engineering, multimodal AI, data analytics and social media marketing. The top 100 performers will qualify for scholarships towards Meta Blueprint certifications and up to $5,000 in advertising credits.
The Developer Bootcamp, delivered by RAIN, will provide selected developers and startups with intensive hands-on training, technical guidance and access to Meta’s AI experts. The initiative is expected to strengthen Nigeria’s technical talent pipeline while connecting AI skills to entrepreneurship, product development and opportunities in the digital economy.
