FG, Lagos Develop Framework to Tackle Youth Unemployment

Nigeria's federal and Lagos State governments have collaborated to create a framework aimed at tackling youth unemployment by aligning skills training with labor market demands. This initiative, presented at the National Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) conference in Lagos, focuses on technical and vocational education as a pathway to employment. Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, highlighted that this effort is a key component of President Bola Tinubu's Nigeria Education Sector Renewal Initiative (NESRI). The NESRI program is a comprehensive educational reform designed to address the nation's growing youth population, projected to reach over 350 million by 2050, with nearly 70% under the age of 30. Through NESRI, over 4,000 instructors and teachers have received training in modern teaching methods and industry-specific trades. Additionally, more than 2,500 quality assurance managers have been trained to improve standards across federal technical colleges and vocational centers. The government has also upgraded over 38 technical workshops and established the foundation for a national skills infrastructure. Minister Alausa emphasized that the conference theme, ‘Harnessing TVET as a Pathway to Employment: Building a System for Employability Inclusion and Green Growth in Nigeria,’ is timely. He stated that nations investing in skills development will lead future economies, making it an economic imperative for Nigeria. President Tinubu views education, particularly skills development for the youth, as the nation's greatest asset. The government has launched a National Skills Information Centre and is operationalizing a National Job Matching Platform to directly link skills acquisition with employment opportunities, marking a shift towards a genuine skills-to-jobs ecosystem. The objective is to ensure every TVET graduate possesses relevant, marketable, and certified skills linked to economic opportunities, with future reforms focusing on scaling quality, increasing industry participation, and strengthening labor market linkages.

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This conference is both timely and strategic, as we meet at a defining moment in our nation’s history when the future of work is being reshaped by technological innovation, digital transformation, artificial intelligence, automation, climate adaptation, and changing global production systems.