The Digital Bridge Institute has entered into partnership with a United States based SBTS Group LLC to equip Nigerian youth with the needed digital skills for global competitiveness.

It will create thousands of job opportunities within and outside Nigeria for Nigerian youth.

The partnership between the DBI and SBTS is essentially designed to address the nation’s digital divide, digital literacy deficit and drive Job creation, the President/CEO of DBI, Daser David, said in a statement yesterday.

Described as a milestone for Nigeria’s digital future, the groundbreaking collaboration would leverage the SBTS Group’s Intelligent Capacity Building Model (ICBM), and the DBI’s reputation as Nigeria’s premier ICT capacity-building institute to provide training, infrastructure upgrades, and Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) hubs across DBI campuses.

The initiatives will empower millions of Nigerians with globally competitive hands-on skills and enhance the country’s participation in the global digital economy, officials said.

According to the International Finance Corporation (IFC), over 230 million jobs in Sub-Saharan Africa will require digital skills by 2030, thus creating nearly 650 million training opportunities.

This summarizes the importance of this initiative and the urgency required to bridging Africa’s digital skills gap, David added.

He also said the partnership would focus on skill development and employment, which would involve training of thousands of Nigerians in advanced digital and technical skills; providing job placements locally and internationally for trained individuals; and develop a robust pipeline of skilled professionals to bridge Nigeria’s digital skills gap.

It would also focused on infrastructure upgrades and resource centers, with establishment of BPO hubs and tech resource centers in Lagos, Enugu, Kano, and other DBI campuses, he added.

He said the partnership would boost Nigeria’s role in the global outsourcing market by creating high-value job opportunities.

Besides, he said the partnership would support the 3 Million Technical Talent (3MTT) initiative of the Ministry of Communication, Innovation, and Digital Economy, spearheaded by the Minister, Dr. Bosun Tijani; to position Nigeria as a leading exporter of digital talent.

The CEO of SBTS Group, Evelyn Lewis, also emphasized the partnership’s urgency in launching Nigeria to the global digital space for the millions of Nigerian youth to take advantage.

He said; “Africa’s digital skills gap is a barrier to growth. By collaborating with DBI, we aim to close this gap, create jobs, and accelerate technology adoption, boosting productivity across sectors.”