The Federal Government has launched a new Nigeria-Ericsson skill acquisition programme aimed at empowering young Nigerians and scaling up digital and technology-driven job creation across the country.

The initiative, tagged Connect NextGen Innovation Hackathon, is a four-month programme designed to equip youths, startups, university students, policymakers and public sector decision-makers with cutting-edge digital skills in 5G, artificial intelligence (AI), cloud computing, Internet of Things (IoT) and other emerging technologies.

Speaking at the launch on Wednesday at the State House Conference Centre, Abuja, Vice President Kashim Shettima said the programme would position Nigeria as a global supplier of digital solutions and technology talent.

Represented by the Deputy Chief of Staff to the President, Senator Ibrahim Hassan Hadejia, the Vice President said the hackathon aligns with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s job creation agenda and forms part of a broader national strategy to harness Nigeria’s youthful population for the digital economy.According to him, the initiative builds on Nigeria’s growing reputation as Africa’s leading hub for tech unicorns and global technology talent.

“The Connect NextGen Innovation Hackathon is designed to deepen this reality — to make Nigeria a supplier of solutions to the world. A brilliant line of code written in Abuja can power a system in Stockholm; a solution imagined in Kano can transform a farm in Kenya,” Shettima said.

He noted that the current wave of the industrial revolution, driven by AI, 5G, cloud technologies and sustainable innovations, presents opportunities Nigeria cannot afford to ignore.

Highlighting Nigeria’s demographic advantage, the Vice President said the country’s greatest asset lies in its human capital, stressing that empowering young people with digital skills would translate into jobs, innovation and economic growth.