FG Equips 38 Technical Colleges, Offers Free Training, Stipends to Youths

The Federal Government has equipped 38 technical colleges nationwide to provide free vocational training, stipends and business start-up support for young Nigerians.

The initiative, supported by the World Bank, seeks to address youth unemployment and poverty by equipping beneficiaries with practical skills for self-employment and economic independence.

Under the programme, trainees enjoy free tuition, instructional materials, monthly stipends and starter packs to help them establish businesses after completing their courses.

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 project centre at the Federal Science and Technical College (FSTC), Orozo, Abuja.

Ogwu said the government had invested in 20 federal and 18 state technical colleges to strengthen vocational education and improve young people’s access to employment opportunities.

She explained that the intervention reflected the government’s determination to equip Nigerians with marketable skills instead of relying exclusively on conventional academic qualifications.

“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.

According to her, the institutions provide opportunities for formal and informal skills acquisition, with FSTC Orozo serving as the designated federal technical college for the Federal Capital Territory.

She expressed confidence that the free training initiative would continue under the current administration and urged Nigerians to support its sustainability.

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.

He added that about 140 skills training centres operated across the FCT, describing the IDEAS Project and the national TVET initiative as complementary efforts to expand access to vocational education.

Odewunmi said the government covered all training expenses, including tuition, instructional materials and accommodation for beneficiaries in boarding facilities.

He explained that trainees also received monthly stipends, while successful participants would graduate with starter packs to establish their businesses.

“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.

To ensure discipline and commitment, he said the government had introduced biometric attendance monitoring.

Trainees who failed to meet the required attendance threshold risked losing their stipends and eligibility for starter packs.

Odewunmi added that monitoring officers regularly visited the centres to assess training activities and ensure proper use of government resources.

The Principal of FSTC Orozo, Dr Stella Uhuegbu, said the college had adopted a training structure that prioritised practical experience in line with the revised national TVET curriculum.

She explained that the curriculum required institutions to devote 70 per cent of training to practical lessons and 30 per cent to theory.

Uhuegbu said the college had provided the necessary equipment, instructional materials and technical instructors to meet the requirement.

The institution has more than 1,000 regular students, while its six-month vocational programme accommodates over 1,000 trainees across different trades.

The available courses include information and communication technology, automobile mechanics, auto-electrical repairs, catering, garment making and GSM repairs.

She described the IDEAS Project as essential to the success of the vocational education programme, noting that its newly constructed and equipped workshops had improved the college’s capacity to deliver practical training.

“All the workshops you are seeing here were newly built and well equipped. The essence is to ensure that the skills training aspect of the TVET initiative is achieved because, without the workshops and equipment, we cannot effectively impact skills on the trainees,” she said.

Uhuegbu added that beneficiaries would receive certificates upon graduation, alongside starter packs to support their entry into business.

Some trainees who spoke during the inspection also described the programme as beneficial, saying the practical lessons had opened opportunities for them to earn income.

One of them, Modupe Osundeyi, who enrolled in catering, said she had acquired skills in baking and food production, including buns, egg rolls and doughnuts.

She disclosed that she had begun approaching prospective customers and secured an opportunity to supply baked products to a school near her residence.

“The programme has equipped me with practical knowledge and enabled me to earn an income. I went to a school close to my house, explained the skills I had acquired and asked if they could give me a contract. They agreed, and I will be making buns and doughnuts for them,” she said.

Another female trainee in the automobile department said the programme had exposed her to different engine types, their components, maintenance procedures and basic repairs.

However, she appealed to the government to provide additional equipment and extend the initiative to rural communities so that more young Nigerians could benefit.

She also encouraged more girls to embrace technical trades traditionally dominated by men, insisting that gender should not restrict their career choices.

“I am in a class dominated by boys, and there are only two girls. However, that has given me more courage. I am not intimidated by the number of boys in my class,” she said.

Another beneficiary at the Zenou TVET Centre, Orozo, Joy Genesis, said she had started earning money from baking barely four months after enrolling in the programme.

Genesis said the practical lessons had equipped her to produce cakes, pastries, confectioneries and other baked products independently.

She listed cake baking and decoration, meat pie production, bread-making and the preparation of different snacks among the skills she had acquired within four to five months.

“We’ve learnt a lot. We’ve learnt pastries, how to make cakes and cover cakes. We’ve learnt meat pie, all forms of bread. They’ve taught us how to make bread rolls, fruit bread, honey bread and coconut bread,” she said.

She added that the training also covered coconut candy, buns, egg rolls, Scotch eggs and shawarma.

Genesis attributed her progress to the centre’s practical teaching approach, which allowed trainees to participate directly in production and practise their skills outside the classroom.

“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 said the skills had already attracted commercial opportunities, including orders for wedding and birthday cakes.

“Yes, like me, since I started, I’ve had wedding cakes and birthday cakes. I even had a birthday cake this weekend that just passed,” she added.