Beyond Certificates: Debrah Puts Ghana’s One Million Coders Programme on the Jobs Test

 

Ghana’s ambition to train one million coders faces a defining test: whether the skills acquired by young people will lead to jobs, viable businesses and income-generating opportunities.

Chief of Staff Dr Julius Debrah has made that outcome central to the government’s digital transformation agenda, cautioning against measuring the programme’s success by the number of certificates issued rather than what graduates go on to achieve.

“We must not celebrate 1 million certificates if they do not lead to 1 million pathways into productive enterprises,” he said at the 2026 MOBEX Africa Conference in Accra.

The warning places the spotlight on what happens after training, particularly whether Ghanaian businesses, public institutions and the wider economy can create enough opportunities to absorb a growing pool of digitally skilled young people.

Dr Debrah said the programme, which covers coding, artificial intelligence, data analytics, cybersecurity and other digital capabilities, must open doors to professional employment, internships, remote work and business-process outsourcing.

Others, he said, should use their skills to establish businesses and develop technology solutions for agriculture, healthcare, education, transport, finance and local government.

Training must meet the needs of business

For the programme to deliver, Dr Debrah said employers must help shape the skills being taught and create routes through which graduates can enter the labour market.

He called on industry to contribute to training curricula, offer internships, recruit graduates, mentor entrepreneurs and create markets for locally developed technology.

A skills gap analysis is also being undertaken to identify areas of greatest demand and bring training into closer alignment with available opportunities, he disclosed.

“We must listen to employers, anticipate emerging needs, and build clear pathways for graduates,” he said.

The issue is particularly important for businesses that need digital expertise to improve productivity but may not have the resources to train recruits from scratch. Closer cooperation between industry and training providers could help reduce that gap, although the scale of employer demand and the number of available jobs remain key questions.

MOBEX calls for ideas that deliver results

The need to turn ambition into tangible progress also featured in the opening address by George Spencer Quaye, Chief Executive Officer of MOBEX Africa.

Mr Quaye called for wisdom to become action, urging different generations to work together to develop solutions and build shared prosperity.

His message was that Africa’s ideas must leave a mark, with progress reflected in improvements people can experience in their daily lives.

The call resonated with Dr Debrah’s argument that digital transformation should be judged by its contribution to employment, business growth and the resolution of practical problems, rather than by the adoption of technology alone.

From digital skills to solutions for Ghana

Dr Debrah outlined how trained young people could apply their knowledge to challenges in their own communities.

A developer in Tamale, he said, should be able to create a platform that connects farmers to markets. A data analyst in Ho could help a hospital plan its medicines and supplies, while a cybersecurity trainee in Takoradi could help protect a small business from digital threats.

“These are the outcomes that turn training programme into national transformation,” he said.

The examples reflect a broader economic argument: digital skills become more valuable when businesses and public institutions can use them to solve problems, cut inefficiencies and reach customers.

Dr Debrah said technology was increasingly relevant to agriculture, manufacturing, trade, health, education and finance, as well as the government’s 24-hour economy agenda.

He said the objective was to make the economy more productive and public services faster, simpler and more transparent.

Laptops and learning centres support expansion

The government is extending training through universities, community information centres and local ICT facilities, Dr Debrah said.

He commended the Minister for Communication, Digital Technology and Innovations, Samuel Nartey George, for visiting training centres, engaging learners and examining challenges affecting implementation.

At the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Dr Debrah said an additional 2,000 laptops would support 40 new learning centres.

He said access to digital education should not depend on where a young person lives.

“A young person’s location must never determine the size of his or her future,” he said.

But wider access to equipment and training will address only part of the challenge. Graduates will still need reliable internet access, relevant work experience, financing where they intend to start businesses, and employers or customers willing to pay for their skills.

Ghana wants to build, not just consume, technology

Dr Debrah said President John Dramani Mahama’s economic reset placed digital transformation at the centre of efforts to create jobs, raise productivity and improve public services.

He argued that Ghana must move beyond consuming technologies designed elsewhere and develop the talent, companies, infrastructure and institutions to design, govern and deploy technology for its own development.

He also pointed to Ghana’s national artificial intelligence strategy, which focuses on responsible adoption, data governance, infrastructure and workforce readiness.

The ambition extends beyond the domestic market. Dr Debrah called for African countries to strengthen digital integration through interoperable payment systems, trusted digital identities, compatible regulations and easier cross-border digital trade.

He cited Nigeria’s fintech and startup sector, Kenya’s use of mobile technology to widen financial inclusion, and Egypt’s growth in technology-enabled services and outsourcing as examples of what can happen when talent, capital, infrastructure and markets work together.

Ghana, he said, should turn its political stability, youthful population, growing innovation community and position as host of the African Continental Free Trade Area Secretariat into companies, jobs and exports.

The numbers that will matter

The One Million Coders Programme carries an ambition to expand digital skills on a large scale. Its economic value, however, will depend on what graduates are able to do with those skills.

Dr Debrah did not give an employment target, a timeline for placing graduates in jobs or figures for companies that have committed to recruiting participants.

Those measures will be important in determining whether the programme is delivering the results government expects.

The test extends beyond the number of people trained. It includes how many secure paid work, how many establish businesses that survive, whether employers find the skills they need, and whether Ghanaian technology firms can win customers at home and abroad.

For the government, the challenge is to connect training with a functioning market for digital skills. For employers, it is to identify where technology can improve their operations and create opportunities for local talent.

As Dr Debrah made clear at MOBEX Africa, Ghana’s digital ambitions must ultimately be reflected in jobs created, businesses built and services improved. The certificates may mark the end of a training course, but they cannot be the final measure of its success.