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The Federal Government has announced plans to link trainees and graduates of Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) programmes directly with employers through a new national job-market portal being developed with World Bank support.
The Minister of Education, Morufu Olatunji Alausa, disclosed this during an interview on Channels Television, explaining that the initiative is designed to ensure that vocational skills training leads to actual employment rather than certificates without jobs.
Speaking during the interview, Alausa said the government deliberately built employment outcomes into the TVET reforms because training people without a clear pathway to work had failed in the past. He said, “We are not just training people and leaving them there. Beyond training these people in technical and vocational education, the second thing is that we need to get them employed. There is no point training people if they cannot get jobs, and that is why we are building a job marketplace platform.”
According to the minister, the planned portal will function as a national job marketplace specifically for Nigerians trained under TVET and related skills programmes. He said, “We are building a TVET job marketplace, an online platform, where as these trainees graduate, we will put them on that portal so that manufacturers, recruiters, and employers can go there and find skilled Nigerians who are ready to work.”
Alausa explained that the platform is not intended to operate as a general job website, but as a targeted system that directly connects skilled workers with industries that need them. He said, “It is a job market platform where labour recruiters and manufacturers can access trained Nigerians instead of importing technicians from outside the country. The whole idea is to connect skills to employment and make sure our people fill those gaps.”
The minister said the development of the portal is being done with international support to ensure credibility and sustainability. He disclosed that procurement processes are being finalised with World Bank involvement and that the platform will undergo testing before public deployment. According to him, “We are finalising the procurement with the World Bank for this platform, and we are building it properly. It will go through pilot testing and beta testing before it is opened, because we want it to work effectively.”
He added that the government is not rushing the rollout, noting that lessons from previous programmes informed the cautious approach. He said, “We are not rushing this. We want it to work, and that is why we are testing it properly before full deployment. This is about building something that will last.”
Alausa said preparations are already underway to populate the portal once it is launched, stressing that the government already has data on both trained youths and potential employers. He said, “We already have captive students who are being trained, and as they graduate, their information will be deployed onto the platform. We also have data on manufacturers and employers, and we are building a database of them so that when the portal opens, both sides are already connected.”
The minister linked the initiative to Nigeria’s long-standing reliance on foreign technical labour, describing it as a major gap the TVET reforms are meant to close. He said, “There have been situations where Nigeria had to import technicians because we could not get enough skilled Nigerians. That is not acceptable for a country of our size, and this platform is part of what will ensure that Nigerians fill those gaps.”
He further explained that the job-market portal complements the broader TVET programme, which targets training one million Nigerians in priority skills areas. According to him, “This is not just about training for training’s sake. We identified the gaps through proper analysis, and we are training people in areas where jobs actually exist, so that when they finish, there is demand for their skills.”
Alausa also addressed how information about the portal will reach the public, noting that previous TVET initiatives attracted strong interest when launched. He said, “When we open it, the information will be disseminated proactively, the same way we opened the training portal and over one million Nigerians applied within days. Nigerians are interested in opportunities that work.”
He maintained that the job-market portal reflects a shift in how government approaches skills development and youth employment. According to him, “This is about making sure that technical and vocational education delivers real value. Training must lead to jobs, and jobs must lead to dignity of work for our youths across the country.”
