The Minister for Communication and Digital Innovation, Samuel Nartey George, has announced that Phase One of President John Dramani Mahama’s One Million Coders Programme will commence nationwide on May 1, 2026.

The announcement follows what the Minister described as an “overwhelming” pilot phase, which attracted 94,000 applications within 48 hours.

Speaking at the launch, Mr George disclosed that although the pilot initially targeted 500 trainees across four centres, demand led to the training of about 1,000 participants.

He noted that the Ministry spent eight weeks reviewing pilot data before scaling up the initiative.

“This programme is not just about ticking a political box. It is about skilling, reskilling, and upskilling the next generation of Ghana’s ICT professionals,” he stated.

A baseline study led by Prof Ebo Turkson of the University of Ghana Business School is currently tracking participants’ demographics, employment status, and post-training outcomes to assess the programme’s impact.

Phase One will cover 130 learning centres across all 16 regions, each equipped with 50 customised laptops, amounting to 6,500 devices from a government stock of 20,000.

In addition, 12 tertiary institutions—including Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, University of Ghana, University of Mines and Technology, University for Development Studies, and University of Cape Coast—will participate in the rollout.

The initiative is being supported by MTN Ghana, which is contributing $2 million to provide 2,000 laptops to five of the participating universities, with the government supplying the remainder.

The application portal is expected to re-open next week, with returning applicants able to access their accounts without reapplying.

The Ministry has also introduced enhanced verification measures, including OTP email authentication and Ghana Card integration, to eliminate fraudulent entries after about 40,000 fake applications were detected during the pilot phase.

Mr George further revealed that the programme is linked to job creation pipelines, with plans to place 100,000 graduates in remote work opportunities, while the Business Outsourcing Services Association of Ghana (BOSAC) is expected to absorb another 100,000 trainees.

He expressed appreciation to partner institutions including the Ghana Investment Fund for Electronic Communications (GIFEC), Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre, and Ghana Digital Centre Limited for their support.

The Minister also commended the Deputy Minister, Mohamed Adam Sukparu, for his dedication, noting that he recently recovered from an accident sustained while inspecting training sites.