FG resumes training of 18,000 unemployed youths

The Federal Government (FG) has begun a statewide vocational and skills development program for over 18,000 artisans and unemployed Nigerians, with training starting on Tuesday at 229 certified centers throughout 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory.

To promote self-employment and decrease poverty, the National Social Investment Programme Agency is implementing a project that will provide participants with vocational skills, entrepreneurial training, and trade-specific starter packets.

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Dr Bernard Doro, Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction, said the effort was in line with President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda, which aims to move poor Nigerians from dependency to economic self-reliance.

“One of the key reasons why we are doing this flag-off is to ensure that over 18,000 Nigerians are empowered through skill acquisition so that they can get into that pathway from vulnerability to self-sustainability,” the minister stated.

He explained that the two-week training curriculum is aimed at Nigerians who already have basic vocational knowledge but need extra technical skills to become more productive.

“The beneficiaries are persons who have already learned some soft skills. “They will be up-skilled and then given tools to begin trading with them,” Doro explained.

The minister emphasized that the ministry has built a strong monitoring and evaluation framework, including a digital tracking system that would monitor beneficiaries and the starter kits provided following the training.

Badamasi Lawal, the National Coordinator and Chief Executive Officer of NSIPA, stated that the program would be carried out through authorized government technical colleges, vocational institutions, and recognized training centers throughout the country’s six geopolitical zones.

Participants, he said, will be trained in 14 vocational trades, including automobile technology, agriculture, baking and confectionery, carpentry, catering, electrical installation, fashion design, plumbing, welding, masonry, hospitality, jewelry making, grinding machine operations, and vulcanizing.

“Successful participants will receive trade-specific starter packs to facilitate immediate business start-up,” he stated.

He explained that beneficiaries were chosen through a transparent and inclusive process that included the National Assembly, state governments, traditional rulers, religious leaders, community development organizations, youth and women’s groups, people with disabilities, and other stakeholders.

According to him, focus was given to unemployed youths, women, vulnerable persons, and economically disadvantaged Nigerians who can build sustainable livelihoods after the program.

Lawal stated that the project was designed to address the growing issue of youth unemployment while also utilizing thousands of vocational beginning kits that had been unused in government warehouses due to administrative and operational delays.

“Rather than allowing these public assets to depreciate, the Federal Government approved their refurbishment, deployment and distribution to qualified beneficiaries after practical skills training,” he stated.

Lawal noted that the scheme would also put thousands of vocational beginning packs that had been sitting idle in government warehouses to good use, urging beneficiaries not to sell the equipment because all distributed products would be digitally traced.