By Daniel Oluwatobiloba Popoola
The Federal Government, Meta and Robotics Artificial Intelligence Nigeria (RAIN) have partnered to launch the AI Academy Nigeria, a national initiative aimed at equipping Nigerian developers, entrepreneurs and young professionals with practical artificial intelligence skills while creating funding and market opportunities for locally developed solutions.
The partnership, announced on Monday,17 August, 2026 will be implemented through the Federal Ministry of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy (FMCIDE), Meta’s Three Million Technical Talent (3MTT) Programme and the National Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics (NCAIR) to strengthen Nigeria’s AI talent and innovation ecosystem.
Meta’s Head of Public Policy, Anglophone West Africa, Sade Dada, disclosed this in a statement, explaining that the initiative would help participants progress from learning AI concepts to developing functional products and solutions.
She said the academy would be delivered through three streams: AI skills development, a startup pitchathon and a developer bootcamp.
According to Dada, the three streams would broaden access to foundational AI skills while providing advanced opportunities for developers and founders building AI-enabled solutions.
Under the startup pitchathon, early-stage Nigerian startups using Meta’s AI technologies to address real-world challenges will receive support.
Applications for the pitchathon will close on August 21, 2026, after which 10 startups will be shortlisted to pitch at GITEX Nigeria on September 3.
The two winning startups will each receive $5,000 in cash funding and $2,000 in Meta advertising credits.
They will also receive an all-expenses-paid opportunity to represent Nigeria at Meta’s AI summit in Istanbul, Türkiye, where they will pitch alongside innovators from across the region on November 23 and 24.
The AI skills development stream will be open to the wider 3MTT community across Nigeria.
Participants will have access to courses covering generative AI fundamentals and application development using Meta’s AI models, including building generative AI applications with Llama, prompt engineering with Llama 2 and Llama 3, and an introduction to multimodal Llama 3.2.
The curriculum will also cover generative AI applications in data analytics and social media marketing, as well as AI 101, which was developed for Meta as part of the learning programme.
The courses will be delivered at no cost through Coursera, DeepLearning.AI and DataCamp.
Dada said the top 100 performers would be eligible for scholarships towards paid Meta Blueprint certifications and up to $5,000 in advertising credits.
The six-week developer bootcamp, the third component of the initiative, will be delivered by RAIN to a selected cohort of developers and startups.
The bootcamp will focus on hands-on AI development and support participants in building functional and market-ready AI solutions.
Participants will also receive technical guidance and access to Meta’s network of AI experts.
The Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Bosun Tijani, said the partnership would equip developers, entrepreneurs and young professionals with practical AI skills while creating pathways for innovation and globally competitive startups.
He said the initiative reflected the Federal Government’s commitment to building a thriving AI ecosystem through strategic public-private collaboration.
Similarly, the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of RAIN, Olushola Ayoola, stressed the importance of coordinated efforts in building Nigeria’s AI capacity.
Ayoola said RAIN was pleased to partner with Meta, FMCIDE and 3MTT to deliver a programme that demonstrated what could be achieved when relevant stakeholders worked together towards a shared goal.
The AI Academy Nigeria is positioned as a national capacity-building initiative linking AI skills development with practical application and entrepreneurship.
Applications for the startup pitchathon will close on Friday, 21 August, 2026, with eligibility criteria and application details available on the AI Academy Nigeria platform.
