Nearly 250,000 Nigerians are undergoing technical and vocational skills training across more than 1,200 accredited centres nationwide, as applications for the Federal Government’s Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) programme reached almost 1.4 million within two weeks.
Maruf Tunji Alausa, minister of education, disclosed the figures during an engagement with the House of Representatives Committee on Polytechnic and Higher Technical Education, chaired by Fuad Kayode Laguda, where he presented updates on the programme’s enrolment, funding, implementation and accountability mechanisms.
Alausa said the latest application figure exceeded the 1.3 million applications recorded during the programme’s first cohort within 10 days, reflecting growing interest in vocational education as a pathway to employment, entrepreneurship and economic advancement.
This was disclosed in a statement signed by Ikharo Attah, Special Adviser ( Media and Communications) to the minister.
He said the Federal Government was rebuilding the TVET ecosystem to equip young Nigerians with practical, industry-relevant skills to secure employment, establish businesses and compete in an increasingly skills-driven global economy.
Under the programme, each trainee receives a monthly stipend of N30,000, while accredited training centres receive N50,000 per student monthly to support training delivery.
The minister said biometric attendance verification had been introduced to strengthen accountability and ensure public funds were linked to actual participation. He explained that initial payment delays resulted from implementing the verification system, as the ministry prioritised verifiable attendance records over manual documentation.
According to Alausa, the payment issues had been resolved, with payments to trainees and training centres up to date as of September.
He added that the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) was responsible for assessing the capacity of centres seeking accreditation, with only those meeting prescribed requirements approved to participate in the programme.
The minister said admission was conducted through a centralised online portal, with applicants providing their National Identification Number and biometric details for verification. The allocation of training opportunities also takes geographical representation across states and local government areas into account, given the programme’s limited capacity relative to demand.
To help trainees translate their skills into livelihoods, the government plans to provide starter packs and relevant equipment upon completion of training. Alausa cited tailoring and electrical installation as examples of trades where graduates would receive tools to begin providing services and establish businesses in their communities.
Beyond conventional vocational trades, the minister disclosed that the government was supporting a Digital Technology Academy currently training 36,000 Nigerians in fields including software development, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, machine learning, natural language processing, IT automation and quantum computing.
He said participants had access to international learning platforms and professional certification opportunities associated with Coursera, Google and IBM, with the aim of equipping them to access jobs and provide digital services to clients in Nigeria and abroad.
The ministry is also supporting improvements in training infrastructure, instructor capacity and modern equipment, while developing a TVET job portal to connect graduates with prospective employers.
Alausa said education in federal technical colleges, as well as in one designated state technical college in each state, was free, with the Federal Government bearing the associated training costs to reduce financial barriers and widen access.
Providing a breakdown of enrolment in selected states, the minister said Bauchi had 4,888 trainees across 50 accredited centres, including 520 in Katagum. Akwa Ibom had 5,885 trainees across 57 centres, while Kogi recorded 5,144 trainees across 42 centres. Katsina had approximately 1,800 trainees in eight newly established technical centres incorporated into the programme.
The government is also working to improve technical education infrastructure, including facilities in the Federal Capital Territory, and strengthen instructors’ capacity. Some lecturers are participating in a train-the-trainer programme in Lagos with experts from the Singapore Institute of Technical Education.
Alausa said the programme was intended to serve as a sustainable human capital development strategy rather than a temporary social intervention, with practical training and equipment helping beneficiaries pursue employment and entrepreneurship.
He called on lawmakers to raise awareness of the programme, visit accredited centres in their constituencies and engage with trainees and training providers to monitor implementation.
The minister assured the committee that the ministry would provide detailed statistics on enrolment, accredited training centres and ongoing training across states and local government areas.
In his remarks, Laguda described the engagement as fruitful and reaffirmed the committee’s commitment to working with the Federal Ministry of Education to strengthen legislative oversight and improve the performance of technical and vocational education.
