“The best way to predict the future is to create it.”
—Abraham Lincoln
By Enyeribe Ejiogu
For four decades, Nigeria has been witnessing a depletion of the pool of skilled and experienced artisans. Largely, this has been due to a combination of factors ranging from bad educational policies that emphasised academic knowledge while discouraging practical hands-on trade skills, to non-existent, dilapidated or few trade schools that were just that in name without the requisite technical tools and technology as well as inadequate number of appropriately incentivised teaching staff.
The result is that on a national basis, Nigeria is severely contending with a shortage of skilled artisans in various trades. Currently, according to Google Gemini, Nigeria faces a critical structural shortage of over one million trained and certified artisans within its workforce.
Though the country has an estimated four million to 12 million individuals operating in the general informal artisan sector, Nigeria severely lacks adequately skilled, modern, and internationally certified tradespeople.
The local construction and building industry suffers a shortfall of approximately 200,000 skilled workers annually to keep pace with urban growth. To solve the massive housing deficit of more than 20 million over the next two decades, the country needs an estimated 10 million additional trained artisans. In essence, the country must necessarily train about one million new artisans every year.
To meet the demand for skilled artisans, about 1.5 million experienced and specialised artisans such as tilers, plumbers, masons, and POP installers, who cannot be recruited from among Nigerian citizens, are sourced from other West African countries, mainly from Benin Republic, Togo and Ghana.
This naturally comes with economic costs, which manifests as capital flight. This reliance has historically drained an estimated $4.5 billion annually out of the Nigerian economy. Moreover and due to the scarcity of high-proficiency professionals, construction projects across the country suffer average delays of three to six months, resulting in cost overruns.
There is a clear and present need to actively, intentionally and rapidly grow Nigeria’s population of skilled artisans. That is a fundamental governance function, which Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi drew attention to in a speech.
He said: “Mere good governance is not enough; it has to be pro-people and proactive. Good governance is putting people at the centre of the development process.”
As Narendra further noted, political will is necessary to achieve good governance, asserting that “good governance is a political process; though the role of civil society is critical, without political will and political process, sustainable good governance cannot be achieved.”
It is noteworthy that the Federal Government has initiated the SUPA (Skill-Up Artisans) programme through the Industrial Training Fund (ITF). The programme aims to formally register, upscale, and provide internationally recognised standard certifications to hundreds of thousands of Nigerian artisans annually to completely phase out reliance on foreign technical labour.
Against this background of scarcity of skilled Nigerian artisans the step recently taken by Kaduna State Governor, Senator Uba Sani, should feel like the sound of music in the ears of Nigerians eager to see the country progress on all fronts.
It is notable that a large population of youths aged 15 to 35 in Kaduna State fall into the NEET category (Not in Education, Employment, or Training). In Kaduna State, the Old Panteka Market in Kaduna metropolis is recognized as one of the largest artisan clusters in Africa and houses an estimated 40,000 artisans and apprentices.
To grow the number of artisans in the state, the Sani Uba administration moved to begin producing cohorts of young state-certified tech artisans through the Kaduna State Institute of Vocational Training and Skills Development.
With more than adequate funding by the state government, personal commitment of Governor Sani, the dedication of state officials who bought into the vision, the first cohort produced 4,050 professional artisans across 14 trades. This specific group received an ₦810 million collective startup grant and each of them received ₦200,000, which was distributed by the Kaduna State Enterprises Development Agency (KADEDA).
In his address while announcing the start-up grant at the maiden graduation ceremony of the Kaduna State Institute of Vocational Training and Skills Development, held at the Abdulkadir Balarabe Musa Campus of the institute in Rigachikun, Kaduna State, Governor Sani stated that the purpose of the money is to help newly trained artisans acquire necessary tools, meet their seed capital needs and also to process their professional registration or cover transportation costs while seeking employment opportunities. He specifically charged them not to fritter away the money, so as not to impair their future.
As further support, he revealed that the state government had initiated contact with suitable private sector companies with a view to facilitating direct technical employment, apprenticeships, internships and mentorship opportunities for the vocational graduates.
Beyond this, the government would seek and connect the graduates with subcontracting and other structured engagements with relevant industries.
While noting that the graduates are a new crop of skilled and productive citizens with the National Skills Qualification Level II certification, Sani said the success of the programme would be “measured by employment created, enterprises established, improved incomes, contracts secured and communities transformed.”
The whole essence of what his administration is doing, the governor said, is to build “an ecosystem where young people could become self-reliant and women could transform acquired skills into sustainable enterprises, by participating fully in the economy.”
The Kaduna State Institute of Vocational Training and Skills Development operates from three campuses located in Rigachikun, Soba and Samaru Kataf, thereby serving different communities across the state.
The graduates of the institute are equipped with practical skills to be useful in Kaduna, compete at the national level and be relevant globally.
The training combined practical lessons with theory, literacy, numeracy, entrepreneurship and soft skills across 14 trade areas, which include electrical installation, welding and fabrication, aluminium fabrication, computer hardware repairs, catering and hospitality, masonry, refrigeration and air conditioning.
Others are fashion design, garment making, carpentry and joinery, painting and decoration, tiling, plumbing, solar installation and automotive mechatronics.
Sani said the institute’s partnership with the National Board for Technical Education enabled training based on National Occupational Standards.
He added that the partnership also allowed the institute to award National Skills Qualifications under the Nigerian Skills Qualifications Framework.
Sani stressed that the training is another way of delivering the dividends of good governance by ensuring that the training was completely free, with special attention given to women, persons with disabilities and underserved communities.
Underpinning the determination of the government and his personal commitment to the success of the programme, and ensuring its longevity growth into a legacy initiative, his administration has set up the Kaduna State Council on Skills, with him as chairman, to drive skills acquisition and development.
Significantly, the National Council on Skills has recognised Kaduna State’s pioneering approach as a model for grassroots skills development.
Elated by the success recorded so far, he congratulated a Kaduna trainee, Ibrahim Jikamshi, who emerged first in welding and Overall Best Artisan of the Year at the 2026 National Construction Artisans Award.
Born on December 31, 1970, in Zaria, Kaduna State, Governor Sani holds a Higher National Diploma (HND) in Mechanical Engineering from Kaduna Polytechnic, a Postgraduate Diploma in Business Administration from the University of Abuja, and a Master of Science (M.Sc.) in Finance from the University of Calabar.
He served as Special Adviser on Public Affairs to former President Olusegun Obasanjo and held advisory positions within the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) and Kaduna State. He also served as Special Adviser on Political and Intergovernmental Affairs to former Kaduna State Governor Nasir el-Rufai. He was elected to the Nigerian Senate in 2019, where he represented the Kaduna Central Senatorial District during the 9th National Assembly. In March 2023, he was elected governor on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) platform, succeeding Malam Nasir el-Rufai.
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