FG equips 38 technical colleges, offers free training, stipends to youths

Beneficiaries get starter packs to launch businesses

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From Fred Ezeh, Abuja

The Federal Government has equipped 38 federal and state technical colleges across the country to provide free technical and vocational training to youths, with beneficiaries receiving monthly stipends and starter packs to establish businesses after graduation.

The initiative, supported by the World Bank, is aimed at tackling youth unemployment, reducing poverty and equipping young Nigerians with marketable skills for economic self-reliance.

The National Project Coordinator of the Innovation Development for Effective Acquisition of Skills (IDEAS) Project, Mrs Blessing Ehi Ogwu, disclosed this during an inspection of the IDEAS Project Centre at the Federal Science and Technical College (FSTC), Orozo, Abuja.

Ogwu said the Federal Government had funded and equipped 20 federal and 18 state technical colleges to strengthen practical skills acquisition and improve employment opportunities.

“The Federal Government is interested in TVET education. That is why we have about 38 technical colleges that the Federal Government has funded and equipped like this, all to enhance skills,” she said.

Also speaking, the National Project Monitoring Officer in the Minister’s Office at the Federal Ministry of Education, Mr Olatunji Odewunmi, said Nigeria had more than 1,000 Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) centres, including about 140 skills training centres in the FCT.

He said the programme was entirely free, with the government covering tuition, training fees, instructional materials and accommodation for beneficiaries in boarding facilities.

Odewunmi added that trainees received monthly stipends and would be provided with starter packs to enable them to establish businesses after completing their programmes.

“Every one of them will get a starter pack even before the end of the training. By the day they graduate, they can go home with it,” he said.

He, however, said biometric attendance monitoring had been introduced, warning that trainees who failed to meet the required attendance threshold would lose their stipends and eligibility for starter packs.

The Principal of FSTC Orozo, Dr Stella Uhuegbu, said the college had adopted the revised TVET curriculum, which prescribed 70 per cent practical and 30 per cent theoretical training.

She disclosed that the institution had more than 1,000 regular students, while its six-month short-term skills programme accommodated over 1,000 trainees across trades, including ICT, automobile mechanics, auto-electrical repairs, catering, garment making and GSM repairs.

Some beneficiaries said the programme had already begun opening up income-generating opportunities.

A catering trainee, Modupe Osundeyi, said she had acquired skills in baking and food production, including buns, egg rolls and doughnuts.

She disclosed that she had secured an opportunity to supply buns and doughnuts to a school near her residence.

Another female automobile trainee appealed to the government to provide more equipment and extend the programme to rural communities.

She also urged more girls to embrace technical trades traditionally dominated by men, saying gender should not limit career choices.

Similarly, Joy Genesis, a trainee at the Zenou TVET Centre, Orozo, said she had started earning income from baking barely four months after enrolling.

Genesis said she had acquired skills in cake baking and decoration, meat pie production, bread-making and confectionery.

“Our work here is hands-on. We did the practicals by ourselves. We did it by ourselves, and we go home and practise,” she said.

She disclosed that she had received orders for wedding and birthday cakes, describing the training as an opportunity to become economically self-reliant.

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