The federal government, through the Minister of Youth Development, Hon. Ayodele Olawande, has disclosed plans to revitalise youth training centres across Nigeria as part of efforts to close the country’s widening skills gap.
The disclosure was made on Tuesday in Abuja during the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding, MoU, between the Federal Ministry of Youth Development and the Africa Projects Development Centre, APDC, which the minister described as a major step toward coordinated youth empowerment, skills acquisition and sustainable development.
Olawande said the partnership aligns with the ministry’s guiding principle of “One youth, two skills,” noting that the agreement would reposition existing youth development centres as modern training hubs delivering vocational, technical, digital and entrepreneurial skills.
According to him, every young Nigerian who passes through programmes of the ministry must acquire at least two practical skills to improve employability and reduce dependence on imported labour.
“This MoU will help us achieve a long-awaited revitalisation of our youth development centres nationwide. We have many centres with strong structures that can be repurposed into modern training hubs. Closing the skills gap is critical to economic growth and national development,” Olawande said.
He added that the partnership would also strengthen implementation and monitoring of youth programmes, particularly through collaboration with development partners and financial institutions, stressing that global best practice favours strong government leadership supported by private-sector expertise.
Earlier, the Permanent Secretary of the ministry, Dr Maryam Keshinro, described the MoU signing as a reflection of shared commitment to empowering young Nigerians through strategic collaboration.
Keshinro said the ministry recognised APDC as a credible partner with proven expertise in project design, capacity building and youth incubation, adding that the agreement provides a clear framework to transform youth development centres into modern training and incubation hubs nationwide.
“This partnership will enhance resource mobilisation from development banks and partners, while strengthening our institutional capacity for project implementation and monitoring,” she said.
She expressed confidence that the collaboration would deliver measurable impact and further advance President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda, especially in the area of youth empowerment and job creation.
In his remarks, the Managing Director of the Africa Projects Development Centre, Dr Chiji Ojukwu, said the MoU formalised months of engagement between APDC and the ministry, following an earlier directive to work closely with ministry officials.
Ojukwu said APDC has empowered over 9,000 young people and women since its establishment, with strong emphasis on women-focused initiatives and inclusive programmes for both genders.
He explained that while APDC initially focused on agriculture, it has expanded into skills development, entrepreneurship, waste-to-wealth initiatives, and the fashion and creative industries, alongside partnerships with institutions such as TVET bodies, the Industrial Training Fund, First Bank and the Women’s Bank.
The APDC managing director said the new partnership would enable the organisation to scale its programmes beyond Abuja and the North-Central zone to other parts of the country, and to contribute lessons from programme implementation to national youth and development policies.
He added that engagements with development finance institutions, including the African Development Bank and the Islamic Development Bank, have already generated significant interest, expressing optimism that the collaboration would deliver concrete outcomes for Nigerian youths nationwide impact.
