Nigeria reaps rewards from tech talent programme

A warri, the Nigerian startup selected to build the country’s first AI, has engaged over 500 fellows from the federal government’s ‘3 Million Technical Talent’ (3MTT) program as data collectors for building a multilingual large language model. Dr. Bosun Tijani, Minister of Communications, Innovation, and Digital Economy, reiterated the government’s commitment to creating more jobs in the tech space.

Bosun Tijani 

"This is a landmark initiative that will cement Nigeria's position as an emerging leader in African AI research and development," said Tijani. Since its launch in November 2023, Awarri has grown to 120 staff and engaged over 500 fellows from the 3MTT Nigeria program as they build Nigeria’s first multilingual large language model.

Awarri started with 100 AI jobs in Ikorodu in November last year and offers a full-stack service from data gathering to model creation and AI application development. The startup is part of a broader effort to build a technology workforce that will contribute to global AI development.

In April, Nigeria launched its first multilingual Large Language Model through a partnership involving Nigerian AI company Awarritech, DataDotOrg, the National Information Technology Development Agency, and the National Centre for AI and Robotics. The AI project, supported by over 7,000 fellows from the 3MTT Nigeria program, will be trained in five low-resource languages and accented English to ensure stronger language representation in AI development.

The 3MTT program is critical to Nigeria’s Renewed Hope agenda, aimed at building the country's technical talent backbone to power its digital economy and position Nigeria as a net talent exporter. The program began with 30,000 Nigerians and has expanded to include an additional 270,000 in its second cohort, bringing the total to 300,000.