The Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy in partnership with a number of institutions (including Microsoft) has launched a Free Advance Microsoft Certifications Programme for Nigerians.
The skill empowerment programme aims to enable Nigerians to acquire transferable and cutting-edge digital skills.
This comprises of building foundational and advance skills across the following categories:
- Administrative Professionals: Develop essential skills needed for administrative roles, including communication, writing, time management, and must-have software skills.
- Project Manager: Discover how to manage projects effectively with scheduling, budgeting, and communication, and explore PM tools in Microsoft 365, etc.
- Business Analyst: Explore foundational business analysis concepts and understand key processes. Practice using software tools for common business analysis tasks.
- Systems Administrator: Learn about this multifaceted role — from managing on-site, cloud, physical, and virtual implementations, as well as storage security.
- Data Analyst: Explore foundational concepts used in data analysis and practice using software tools for data analytics and data visualization.
- Software Development: Understand the core concepts and structure of programming languages and learn how they’re applied.
Advance Certification Exams
Besides these, there are selected advanced Certification Exams you can also write for FREE which are listed below:
Security Administrator: Microsoft 365 Security Administration (MS-500): Demonstrate your real-world knowledge of Microsoft 365 security implementation and administration, including identity, access, threat and information protection, governance, and compliance. Designed for professionals with Microsoft security experience.
Azure Data Scientist:
The Azure Data Scientist applies their knowledge of data science and machine learning to implement and run machine learning workloads on Azure; in particular, using Azure Machine Learning Service. This entails planning and creating a suitable working environment for data science workloads on Azure, running data experiments and training predictive models, managing and optimizing models, and deploying machine learning models into production.
Power BI Data Analyst:
The Power BI data analyst delivers actionable insights by leveraging available data and applying domain expertise. The Power BI data analyst collaborates with key stakeholders across verticals to identify business requirements, cleans and transforms the data, and then designs and builds data models by using Power BI.
Azure Security Engineer:
This course will explore how to manage identities, provide role-based access, and secure data within an Azure ecosystem.
What will be covered?
Microsoft Azure Security Engineer (AZ-500): You will learn how to implement secure infrastructure solutions in the Microsoft Azure platform, Azure security core services, capabilities, etc.
Azure Administrator:
It manages Azure identities and governance; implement and manage storage; deploy and manage Azure compute resources; configure and manage virtual networking; and monitor and back up Azure resources.
Azure DevOps Engineer:
Designing and Implementing DevOps Solution (AZ-400): Configure processes and communications, Design and implement source control, Design and implement build and release pipelines, Develop a security and compliance plan and Implementing an instrumentation strategy.
How to Participate
This opportunity is only available for Nigerian residents as it is a partnership with the Nigerian Government. If you are not Nigerian, please see FREE Microsoft Student Certifications
Steps to Enrol as found on the Digital Skills Nigeria Platform:
- STEP 1: Get started by registering for your course of choice and complete your learning.
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STEP 2: Take your course mock exam and score above 60% on or before the 27th of the month. A Qualified candidates list will be compiled monthly and you will be contacted via email to notify you of your status.
Vouchers will be distributed to qualified candidates on or before the following dates:
•30th March 2023
•31st July 2023
•30th November 2023
This program will stop giving out vouchers by November 2023 -
STEP 3:
Participate in the Proctor Exam Preparatory Class. -
STEP 4
Use your voucher and take your certification exam.
If you are a student and not a Nigerian, click here to see FREE certifications available for you https://aka.ms/FREEStudentCert
