President John Dramani Mahama has officially launched Ghana’s groundbreaking One Million Coders Programme (OMCP), a flagship national initiative designed to equip the country’s youth with cutting-edge digital skills and position Ghana as Africa’s leading technology and innovation hub.
The launch, held at the Ghana-India Kofi Annan Centre of Excellence in ICT, was met with overwhelming public enthusiasm. In just 48 hours of opening the online application portal, the programme received a staggering 91,847 applications, far exceeding the initial target of 560.
In his keynote address, President Mahama described the initiative as more than a coding bootcamp — it is a transformative step into a new economic era for Ghana.
“We are not just teaching code; we are rewriting Ghana’s future,” he declared.
“This programme is our declaration to the world that Ghana will no longer be a consumer of technology but a creator — a nation where innovation drives growth, where our youth build solutions to our challenges, and where digital skills become the passport to prosperity.”
Citing global success stories such as Estonia’s coding-integrated education system and India’s dominance in the $410 billion outsourcing market, President Mahama asserted that Ghana is strategically positioned — with its English-speaking population and youthful demographic — to emerge as the premier tech hub on the continent.
He also delivered a direct message to the youth of Ghana:
“You are the architects of this digital dawn. Seize this opportunity, not just to learn but to lead.”
Minister for Communication, Digital Technology and Innovations, Samuel Nartey George, revealed that the unprecedented interest in the OMCP had prompted an immediate scale-up of the programme’s first cohort.
“This isn’t just a training programme; it’s a movement,” he said.
“We’ve partnered with global tech giants including Google, Microsoft, Amazon Web Services (AWS), and MTN to ensure our curriculum is world-class. From cybersecurity to data analytics, we’re preparing Ghanaians not just for jobs — but to create them.”
The programme will adopt a modular training approach, beginning in Greater Accra, Ashanti, Bono, and Upper East Regions, with community information centres across the country set to support a broader rollout in rural areas. This ensures that no Ghanaian — regardless of location or background — is left behind in the digital revolution.
Beyond upskilling, the OMCP aims to drive job creation, entrepreneurship, and education reform. The initiative aligns with government goals to embed coding into basic and secondary school curricula and ensure inclusion for women, rural youth, and persons with disabilities.
According to stakeholders, the programme’s graduates will be equipped to participate in the global digital economy, support local innovation in sectors like agriculture, health, and governance, and even help build startups to solve community-specific challenges.
One applicant, Afia Sey (not her real name), shared her excitement in an interview with the Daily Graphic. She recounted how she had long wanted to pursue a particular tech course but was deterred by the high cost and lack of local options.
“This course I’m signing up for costs hundreds of dollars online,” she said. “No institution here offered it, and I just couldn’t afford it. Now it’s available for free through this programme. It’s a life-changing opportunity.”
The OMCP was a key 2024 manifesto promise of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and has since become a cornerstone of President Mahama’s second administration. The programme reflects Ghana’s recognition of digital literacy as essential for employability, economic diversification, and global competitiveness in the era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
With the first cohort set to begin training in May 2025, Ghana’s One Million Coders Programme stands as one of the boldest tech-driven national initiatives in Africa — and a potential blueprint for digital transformation across the continent.
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