Cisco, NITDA and Meta account for 85% of digital literacy training as Nigeria records just 5.54% of 2027 target

The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has launched a National Digital Literacy Dashboard showing 2,769,512 reported training achievements. Three organisations account for about 85% of them, while the dashboard puts overall progress at 5.54% of the 2027 target.

The agency announced the dashboard on its official X account. It says the figure covers 252 active reporting organisations, all 774 Local Government Areas and 14,664 communities. The dashboard says it tracks data since January 2022.

Who is doing the training?

Cisco reported 1,073,604 training achievements, about 39% of the total. NITDA follows with 960,424, or about 35%, while Meta Platforms Inc. has 333,816, or about 12%. Cisco and NITDA alone account for about 73%.

The dashboard’s contributor table shows how uneven the counts are. Cisco’s total comes from four trainings and Meta’s from five. NITDA’s comes from 38,554.

The other 249 organisations share the remaining 401,668. They include Imo Digital City Limited, the Sokoto State Ministry of Innovation and Digital Economy, the Bureau for ICT and Digital Economy, and digital development agencies in Jigawa, Kaduna and Zamfara. The Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) is also listed.

Also read: Nigeria targets 95% digital literacy by 2030 – NITDA DG, Kashifu Inuwa

How far is Nigeria from the target set by NITDA

The dashboard lists 50 million Nigerians as the number required to reach 70% digital literacy by 2027. It shows 2,770,240 verified digitally literate, leaving 47,229,760 to reach. The dashboard’s trend chart shows the share of the target reached rising each year since 2022, with the latest stretch drawn as a dotted line.

That differs from the 30 million NITDA cited when the Digital Literacy for All (DL4ALL) initiative began its first phase with the National Youth Service Corps, according to Techpoint Africa. The statement does not explain the difference.

DL4ALL’s first phase used corps members as trainers across 12 states, including the Federal Capital Territory. NITDA’s Director-General, Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, said at the time that corps members were well placed to serve as “digital literacy champions” in their communities, according to the same report.

The dashboard also shows who is being reached. Youth under 35 account for 2,092,697 of the total, about 76%, and female participation is 32.9%. Informal-sector workers account for 1,609,183, about 58%, while 17,156 are persons with disabilities. Rural beneficiaries number 65,767, about 2%. Nearly all recorded trainings are at the foundation level (99.5%), and most are in person.

Read also: From 63% literacy to 70% digital fluency: Nigerian ambition vs. reality

NITDA says the dashboard will help identify gaps, reduce duplication and improve resource allocation. The agency links the targets of 70% digital literacy by 2027 and 95% by 2030 to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s priority areas, including digitisation and industrialisation.