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President Bola Tinubu says Nigeria’s young people are tech-savvy and ready for a digital skills drive that can integrate them into the global economy. He spoke in Abuja while receiving a Mastercard delegation led by the company’s Global Chief Executive, Michael Miebach, at the State House.
A digital skills plan for millions
Tinubu welcomed Mastercard’s proposal to train five million businesses and equip them with digital skills and tools. He said the country’s large youth population is its greatest asset, and he assured investors that the ready-to-learn workforce can easily plug into international markets. The president framed digital training as a path to jobs, productivity and growth.
Mastercard said it had already built the framework and platform to empower up to 40 million small businesses in Nigeria with digital skills. The company’s plan focuses on helping small firms adopt the tools they need to sell, get paid and manage operations in a modern economy.
Why the meeting matters
Foreign investment in skills and technology is a priority for the Tinubu administration as it tries to show that recent economic reforms are paying off. The president said the Nigerian economy had been repositioned and stabilised to participate fully in the global market, with empowering youths and small businesses at the centre of that effort.
For a country where millions of young people enter the labour market each year, digital skills offer a route to work that does not depend solely on traditional employers. Online services, e-commerce, freelancing and tech roles can absorb talent that the formal sector struggles to hire fast enough.
Mastercard’s long history in Nigeria
Miebach told the president that he personally set up Mastercard’s business in Nigeria in 2011 and hired the company’s first employee in Lagos, describing the visit as coming home. He said the firm had watched the country grow over more than a decade and noted what he called a clear alignment of fiscal and monetary policy under the current government.
That kind of endorsement from a global executive is valuable to a government keen to attract more capital. It also signals that Nigeria remains a strategic market for large payment companies betting on the continent’s young, fast-growing population.
Still, the real test of any digital skills pledge lies in delivery. Training millions of businesses requires reliable power, affordable data, accessible devices and curricula that match what employers and markets actually need. Past programmes have sometimes struggled to convert big numbers into lasting income for participants.
Analysts say partnerships like this work best when they are tied to clear outcomes, such as businesses that can demonstrably sell more, reach new customers or cut costs after training. Tracking those results, rather than only counting enrolments, will show whether the plan delivers on its promise.
For now, the meeting underscores a shared message from government and a major investor: Nigeria’s youth are an asset, and equipping them with digital skills is central to the country’s economic ambitions. Turning that message into measurable jobs and income will be the true measure of success.
