By Kwin Israel, The Sight News
The Federal Government has equipped 38 federal and state technical colleges across the country to provide free vocational training, monthly stipends and business starter packs to young Nigerians as part of efforts to tackle unemployment, reduce poverty and promote economic self-reliance.
The National Project Coordinator of the Innovation Development for Effective Acquisition of Skills (IDEAS) Project, Blessing Ehi Ogwu, disclosed this during an inspection of the IDEAS Project Centre at the Federal Science and Technical College (FSTC), Orozo, Abuja. She said the initiative, supported by the World Bank, covers 20 federal and 18 state technical colleges, with the aim of strengthening practical skills acquisition and improving employment opportunities.
Ogwu explained that the intervention was designed to equip young people with relevant, marketable skills through free technical and vocational education.
Also speaking, the National Project Monitoring Officer in the Minister’s Office at the Federal Ministry of Education, Olatunji Odewunmi, said beneficiaries would receive tuition, training materials, accommodation where applicable and monthly stipends, while successful trainees would be provided with starter packs to establish their businesses after completing their programmes. He added that biometric attendance monitoring and regular project inspections had been introduced to ensure discipline, accountability and effective utilisation of government resources.
The Principal of FSTC Orozo, Dr Stella Uhuegbu, said the college had adopted the revised Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) curriculum, which prescribes 70 per cent practical instruction and 30 per cent theory. She disclosed that the institution’s six-month vocational programme currently accommodates more than 1,000 trainees across five trade areas, including information and communication technology, automobile mechanics, auto-electrical repairs, catering, garment making and GSM repairs.
Dr. Uhuegbu said newly constructed and equipped workshops had strengthened the college’s capacity to deliver practical training, adding that graduates would receive certificates and government-provided starter packs.
Some beneficiaries have already begun translating the acquired skills into income-generating opportunities. A catering trainee, Modupe Osundeyi, said her training had enabled her to secure a supply opportunity with a school for buns and doughnuts, while another trainee, Joy Genesis, disclosed that she had started receiving orders for wedding and birthday cakes after acquiring practical skills in baking and confectionery at the Zenou TVET Centre, Orozo.
Also, a female automobile trainee encouraged more women to embrace technical trades, while appealing to the government to provide additional training equipment and extend the programme to rural communities.
