About 160,000 Nigerians are currently undergoing training under the Federal Government’s Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) programme across 1,200 centres nationwide, Minister of Education Tunji Alausa has disclosed.
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Alausa revealed this during an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today, where he outlined the Tinubu administration’s ongoing reforms aimed at repositioning technical and vocational education as a major pillar of economic growth, entrepreneurship and industrial development in Nigeria.
The minister said the government is aggressively expanding TVET to address unemployment, close the country’s skills gap and prepare young Nigerians for emerging opportunities in agriculture, engineering, manufacturing, technology and other productive sectors of the economy.
“Today I can tell you almost 160,000 Nigerians are being trained in 1,200 skill training centres across the country,” Alausa said.
According to him, the Federal Government has already injected nearly N100 billion into the TVET sector as part of broader education reforms under President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope agenda.
He explained that trainees enrolled under the programme are receiving monthly stipends while training centres are also being funded based on the number of students they train.
“Each of those students gets N22,500 stipend a month. Each of those centres gets N45,000 per student,” he said.
Alausa said the funding model was deliberately designed to make technical education more attractive to young Nigerians while encouraging stronger private sector participation in vocational training and skills development.
The minister disclosed that federal technical colleges are now tuition-free, describing the move as one of the biggest changes introduced under the administration’s TVET reforms.
“Today all our federal technical colleges are free. You literally just take your child with their clothes there, you get free education,” he said.
According to him, the government is also adopting and upgrading one technical college in each of the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory as part of efforts to rebuild technical education infrastructure nationwide.
For years, Nigeria’s TVET sector has struggled with low enrollment, outdated facilities and weak public perception compared to university education. However, the Federal Government now says technical and vocational training is being repositioned as a direct pathway to jobs, entrepreneurship and industrial productivity.
Alausa noted that more than 1.3 million Nigerians applied for technical and vocational training opportunities, highlighting growing interest in practical skills acquisition.
The minister said the administration is no longer focused on producing graduates who only seek white-collar jobs but intends to build a workforce of entrepreneurs, innovators and skilled professionals.
“We’re training the students to be entrepreneurs, not job seekers,” he said.
He added that entrepreneurship, innovation, business incubation and certification systems are now being integrated into parts of the education structure to support self-employment and enterprise development among young Nigerians.
The TVET expansion is also tied to the government’s broader ambition of moving Nigeria “from a resource-based economy to a knowledge-based economy.”
According to Alausa, the country needs a stronger skilled labour force to support its economic ambitions, including the Tinubu administration’s target of building a $1 trillion economy.
He also linked the reforms to food security and agricultural productivity, noting that technical education would play a major role in modern farming, agro-processing and industrial production.
The minister said the government is working with the private sector to ensure the training aligns with real labour market needs and current industry standards.
The TVET reforms are coming alongside wider education sector changes including curriculum modernisation, STEM investments, digital learning initiatives and increased funding for technical institutions.
Alausa argued that many young Nigerians are looking for faster pathways to employment and income generation, making vocational and technical education increasingly important to the country’s future.
He said the government intends to sustain the programme through dedicated funding structures beyond annual budget cycles to ensure continuity and long-term impact, Nigeria Startup News (NSN) reports.
