Nigeria AI training plan to train 36,000 youths is too small, expert Abel Aboh says, calling for AI literacy from primary school and real use cases.
Nigeria’s plan to train 36,000 people in AI and cybersecurity is facing pushback. Data and AI expert Abel Aboh says the target is too small for a country of over 250 million people.
Nigeria’s Federal Government recently announced a partnership with Coursera to train 36,000 Nigerian youths in artificial intelligence and cybersecurity.
Abel Aboh, a British-Nigerian data and AI specialist, criticised the number on The Coffee Table Podcast. He argued that 36,000 trainees will not make a meaningful difference at national scale. He compared it to adding “a pinch of sugar” to tea.
Aboh’s bigger point is about where AI literacy starts. He said Nigeria is focusing too much on tertiary education. He wants AI education to begin much earlier, from kindergarten and primary school, then continue through secondary and university levels.
He also questioned Nigeria’s National Artificial Intelligence Strategy. He said strategy documents often stay aspirational unless they are tied to implementation. In simple terms, a strategy is a plan on paper, implementation is the work that changes outcomes.
Aboh said the draft strategy should define the specific problems Nigeria wants AI to solve, sector by sector. He named agriculture, finance, transportation, security, and unemployment as areas that need clear targets. For example, he said AI can help farmers by analysing crop, soil, weather, and market data so they can make better planting decisions.
This debate matters for the tech ecosystem because talent supply shapes everything else, startup hiring, enterprise adoption, and public sector digitisation.
Training 36,000 people may still help individuals get jobs, but it may not create the broad AI-ready workforce Nigeria wants. Aboh’s comments also reflect a wider concern across Africa: AI policies and national strategies need practical use cases, data access, and sustained education pipelines, not just short-term training targets.
For founders and operators, the key question is whether government-backed AI programmes will connect to real sector demand. That includes agriculture productivity, safer communities, and better public services, not only certificates and course completions.
Primary Source: Nairametrics
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