The Federal Ministry of Education has welcomed renewed public debate on skills deficits in Nigeria and across Africa, saying the discussion reinforces the urgency of ongoing reforms in technical and vocational education.
The Ministry in a statement said a recent publication examining skills shortages—using the engagement of foreign technical expertise in large-scale industrial projects as a case study—highlights the need for sustained investment in human capital development.
The Ministry noted that addressing skills gaps remains a key priority of the Federal Government under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda, particularly through the expansion of Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET).
According to the Ministry, TVET has been repositioned as a central pillar of Nigeria’s economic transformation, with the launch of a nationwide TVET Initiative aimed at large-scale skills development.
It disclosed that more than 100,000 students are currently undergoing training in over 1,600 technical and vocational programmes across federal and state technical colleges, skills training centres and accredited vocational enterprise institutions. The figure represents the first cohort of 250,000 trainees expected to be fully enrolled within the next two to three months.
The Ministry said the Federal Government plans to train more than one million young Nigerians over the next two years with industry-relevant skills to meet local, regional and global labour demands, describing the rollout of the TVET Initiative as “a phenomenal success”.
The programmes focus on priority sectors aligned with national development goals and labour market needs, including industrial mechanics, electrical installation, welding and fabrication, mechatronics, solar photovoltaic systems, compressed natural gas (CNG) conversion and maintenance, refrigeration and HVAC, ICT and other technical trades.
Training, the Ministry said, is being designed in collaboration with industry to ensure graduates are certified, employable and job-ready.
It added that technical institutions nationwide are being revitalised through curriculum updates, deployment of modern equipment, instructor training and strengthened quality assurance systems. Quality assurance assessors and internal managers have also been deployed to ensure compliance with national occupational standards and international benchmarks.
To improve access and completion rates, the Federal Government is providing structured stipends to trainees, with the first tranche of payments already released to training centres and beneficiaries.
The Ministry further disclosed that international partnerships are being leveraged to support curriculum modernisation and instructor development, stressing that such collaborations are focused on long-term capacity building and knowledge transfer rather than replacing Nigerian labour.
The Ministry said the TVET Initiative represents Nigeria’s structured and sustainable response to skills shortages, reaffirming its commitment to building a skills-driven economy where Nigerians can operate, maintain and expand the nation’s industries.
