*The National Information Technology Development Agency, in collaboration with 251 other reporting organisations, reveals it recorded 2,769,512 digital literacy training achievements across the country in the last three years
Alexander Davis | ConsumerConnect
The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has emphasised the Federal Government continues to intensify efforts at equipping citizens with the skills needed to participate in the burgeoning Nigeria Digital Economy.
ConsumerConnect reports NITDA, in collaboration with 251 other reporting organisations, said it had recorded 2,769,512 digital literacy training achievements across the country in the last three years.
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The agency noted the figure represented 5.54 percent of the target of reaching 50 million beneficiaries by 2027.
The country’s IT sector regulatory agency disclosed this development through the National Digital Literacy Dashboard unveiled at the 2026 National Digital Literacy Workshop, in Abuja, FCT.
The dashboard also indicated that 252 organisations are actively reporting their digital literacy interventions, with activities covering all 36 states of the Federation, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), and all 774 Local Government Areas (LGAs).
Digital Literacy for All (DL4ALL) programme
NITDA further said 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, Malam Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, CCIE, Director-General of the agency, said Nigeria’s greatest resource was its human capital.
Inuwa stated that deliberate investment in digital capabilities was essential to improving productivity and creating economic opportunities.
The Director-General also 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.
He declared: “Our ambition is not to turn every Nigerian into an IT professional.
“⁶Our ambition is to make every Nigerian digitally capable.”
According to him, 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.
Exposing the dashboard, Inuwa said young people below the age of 35 accounted 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.
The agency further revealed ü
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.
The Chief Executive of NITDA averred: “At NITDA, we see our role as an ecosystem orchestrator.”
He further explained 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 in the country.
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, stated he.
According to him, the agency intends to measure progress beyond training attendance by examining whether beneficiaries could communicate more effectively, protect themselves against online fraud, access information confidently, and improve their businesses, jobs and livelihoods.
It is recalled the National Digital Literacy Framework was established 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 later launched DL4ALL 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 (NYSC) 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.
NITDA restated that the National Digital Literacy Framework targets 70 percent digital literacy by 2027, and 95 percent 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.
They stressed that achieving the national targets required collective responsibility.
The IT sector regulatory agency said 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.