NITDA trains over 10,000 civil servants in digital literacy programme

Nigeria’s tech regulator has put more than 10,000 federal civil servants through basic digital skills training as part of a broader plan to digitize government operations and improve how public institutions work.

The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) ran the Digital Literacy for All (DL4ALL) programme in partnership with the Office of the Head of Civil Service, enrolling over 45,000 government workers per course across four modules covering digital basics, computer use, content creation, and online safety.

According to NITDA’s 2025 report, the programme reached between 65% and 75% of the federal workforce. Completion rates sat between 38% and 44% across different courses, numbers NITDA says match global standards for large-scale voluntary online training. Notably, more people finished the advanced modules than the basic ones, suggesting participants stayed engaged as training got more technical.

Small agencies outperformed larger ones

The results show something interesting: size didn’t guarantee success. While big ministries like Education and Defence enrolled the most people overall, several smaller agencies recorded completion rates above 70%.

NITDA attributes this to stronger internal coordination. Agencies with dedicated ICT leadership, appointed “Digital Literacy Champions,” and consistent monitoring saw better outcomes than larger institutions without those structures. The lesson seems clear, institutional buy-in matters more than headcount.

Kashifu Inuwa, NITDA’s director-general, highlighted the agency’s partnership with Cisco Networking Academy during a visit to the Head of Civil Service’s office. The collaboration gives civil servants access to digital training at minimal cost and creates a pathway into more advanced courses on networking, cybersecurity, data analysis, and programming starting this year.

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What comes next for NITDA

NITDA plans to shift focus from basic literacy to job-specific digital skills in 2026. The agency wants to expand the Digital Literacy Champion model across all government agencies, build a national dashboard to track progress, and help civil servants earn professional certifications in tech fields.

The push fits into the federal government’s target of hitting 70% digital literacy across the civil service by 2027. The broader goal is to make government agencies more efficient and tech-driven, improving how they deliver services to citizens.

The DL4ALL programme represents one piece of Nigeria’s larger digital transformation strategy, which includes upgrading public sector infrastructure and modernizing administrative processes. Whether the government hits its 2027 target depends largely on sustaining momentum beyond foundational training and ensuring workers can apply new skills in their actual roles.

For now, NITDA says it’s focused on deepening collaboration with ministries and refining how it delivers training across agencies of different sizes and capacities.