Enrolments in AI-related micro-credentials rose 95% in Ghana and 93% in Nigeria over the past year, according to Coursera’s eighth annual Global Skills Report, published by the online learning platform.
The report draws on a subset of learning data from more than 300 million learners across Coursera and Udemy. It also records growing participation in cybersecurity and analytical problem-solving courses across West Africa.
The growth coincides with government digital strategy roll-outs in both countries. Ghana launched its National AI Strategy alongside an announced $250 million investment in an AI Computing Centre and the One Million Coders Programme. In Nigeria, the Federal Ministry of Education’s Digital Training Academy launched a government-funded programme offering digital skills training to 32,000 people.
Coursera also cites the World Bank’s World Development Report 2026 as showing that AI tool use among formal Nigerian businesses with at least five employees rose from under 5% in 2022 to roughly 40% in 2025.
Learners in both countries are pairing technical and human skills, with sharp increases in enrolments for AI security, agentic workflows, critical thinking and complex problem-solving. The patterns differ: Ghanaian learners are combining foundational machine learning with critical thinking, while Nigerian learners are linking operational planning with multi-agent orchestration.
The rankings are more modest than the enrolment growth. In the report’s new AI-Human Skills Synergy Index, which assesses 98 countries on how they combine technical AI proficiency with reasoning skills and digital infrastructure, Nigeria ranked fifth of 11 sub-Saharan African countries and 81st globally. Ghana ranked eighth regionally and 89th globally.
Kais Zribi, Coursera’s general manager for the Middle East and Africa, said the next challenge was turning learning into work.
“Nigeria’s learners are investing in AI credentials while strengthening the human skills needed to put their knowledge to work. The next opportunity is to make those pathways accessible to more people and connect them with employment and entrepreneurship,” he said.
Governments, employers and educational institutions could help by addressing barriers to participation, supporting learners to complete their training and enabling them to demonstrate their capabilities, Zribi said. “Bringing these elements together can help more Nigerians use AI to solve problems in their workplaces and businesses, extending the benefits of adoption across the economy.”
On Ghana, he said: “Ghana’s growth in AI and human skills enrolments provides a foundation to strengthen workforce readiness. The next priority is to help more people turn that interest into capabilities they can demonstrate.”
Employers and institutions, he added, could align learning with industry needs and give learners opportunities to apply their skills through projects and workplace experience — supporting the One Million Coders Programme’s goals of strengthening employability, enabling entrepreneurship and widening participation in the digital economy.
Based on Coursera’s Global Skills Report 2026.
