In a bold move to curb cybercrime and empower Nigeria’s youth, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Cross River State Teachers Continuous Training Institute (TCTI), Biase, have signed a landmark Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) at the EFCC Headquarters in Abuja.
The MoU signed on April 30, 2025, establishes a collaborative framework to design and implement far-reaching digital literacy and cybersecurity programs that will help redirect Nigeria’s growing digital talent towards legitimate opportunities in the digital space.
Under the three-year agreement, both institutions will develop a standardized nationwide digital literacy framework and certification program, launch cybersecurity training for EFCC personnel, introduce digital skills competitions and incentives for high-performing participants, implement the Future Proof Economy (FPE) Model to drive innovation and career readiness.
Also as a part of the collaboration, the EFCC will transform its Academy into a certified Pearson Vue Testing Centre, and promote inter-agency collaboration for stronger digital development.
The initiative includes quarterly review meetings by a Joint Implementation Committee (JIC) to ensure impactful delivery and accountability.
“This partnership aligns with the EFCC’s preventive strategy through education and empowerment.
“Together with the TCTI, we are building a digital future that safeguards our economy and uplifts Nigerian youth.
“We can make it part of our preventive menu and that is where we see it as part of our responsibility and a need for us to have a synergy with the Institute. This MOU is something that we can work with. We are going to immediately operationalize the provisions of it,” said the EFCC Chairman, Ola Olukoyede.
Professor Taoheed Adedoja, the Director-General of the TCTI said thousands of Nigerian youths are to benefit from the joint initiatives to provide nationwide training on high level global certification program.
“With the Institute’s Center for Digital and Emerging Skills, the TCTI is ready to offer distinctive services for the practical actualization of this national assignment.” Continuing, Adedoja noted that: “the Institute being the first public institution in the country that is licensed by CERTIPORT as a center for digital literacy proficiency testing with a view to filling the gaps on knowledge and skills needed for global employability and competitiveness. This certification was presented before the Cross River State Executive Council meeting in 2023.
“The essence of this exercise is to provide digital skill literacy for Nigerian youths so that they can deploy the skill for national development as we have seen some models in different countries. What happens in other countries is that they watch out for intelligent youths, skill them and deploy them to various aspects of their national lives. We believe that there should be an interventionist programme in respect of this challenge.
“I want to specially thank the state Governor, Senator Bassey Otu and the EFCC for making this landmark collaboration possible”, he stated.
The TCTI boss expressed enthusiasm about contributing its expertise to curriculum development and cyber training, stating that the collaboration offers a sustainable solution to youth engagement and national development. It would be recalled that the TCTI previously trained a group of local resource persons from Cross River State in IC3 digital literacy, preparing them to oversee the training of others.
The MOU signing included key representatives from both parties. From the EFCC were the Secretary Mr. Mohammed Hassan Hamajoda and other directors. The TCTI delegation included Mrs Sara Archibong, Special Assistant to the Governor of Cross River State (Liaison Office, Abuja), and Dr Emmanuel Omini, Ag. Director, Center for Digital Literacy and Emerging Skills at TCTI.