FG to Pay Vocational Students, Strengthen Workforce with Hands-on Training. Photograph/Globalgiving)
(EPICSTORIAN) – The Federal Government of Nigeria has announced plans to provide financial incentives to students enrolled in technical and vocational schools as part of broader reforms to strengthen the country’s workforce.
Minister of Education, Tunji Alausa, revealed the initiative during an interview on Channels Television, outlining a four-step strategy aimed at boosting enrolment in vocational institutions and addressing Nigeria’s human capacity gaps.
“We would pay students to go to those schools. We’ve modelled how much we’re going to pay them when we roll the programme out,” Alausa stated.
The reform also prioritizes hands-on learning, with skilled professionals mentoring students. “What we will be doing with technical education will be 20% didactic and 80% hands-on training,” he explained.
To facilitate this, the government will pre-qualify master craftspersons from industries of all sizes and compensate them for training students. “We’ll pay them for each student every month,” Alausa confirmed.
Additionally, performance monitoring officers will be deployed across Nigeria’s 774 local government areas to ensure effective training. “We will go and come back to see that those students are being taught properly,” he assured.
Vocational education will be categorized into skill training centres, vocational enterprise institutes, and state and federal technical colleges, with training tailored to industry needs based on a labour gap analysis.
President Bola Tinubu has also directed the Ministry of Education to collaborate with the Bank of Industry to provide single-digit credit facilities for vocational school graduates, enabling them to transition into entrepreneurship.
Highlighting the economic potential of vocational skills, Alausa said, “In the UK or the US today, a plumber earns more than a doctor.” He emphasized that strengthening technical education is essential to reversing Nigeria’s brain drain and building a sustainable workforce.
