The Federal Government has disclosed that it has invested close to One Hundred Billion Naira into Nigeria’s technical education sector as part of efforts to strengthen skills acquisition, empower youths and promote vocational training across the country.
The Minister of Education, Tunji Alausa, made the disclosure while speaking during an interview on Politics Today aired on Channels Television.
According to the minister, all Federal Technical Colleges across the country are now tuition-free, with the government taking responsibility for the welfare and training support of students enrolled in the institutions.
He stated that parents are only required to provide clothing and personal items for their children, while the Federal Government covers the cost of technical education and related support services.
“All our federal technical colleges are free. You literally just take your child with their clothes there in the federal technical colleges,” the minister said.
Alausa further revealed that the government has also introduced monthly stipends for students undergoing skill acquisition programmes as part of measures aimed at encouraging vocational learning and reducing unemployment among young Nigerians.
He explained that each student receives a monthly stipend of N22,500, while training centres are provided N45,000 per student to support the delivery of technical and vocational education.
“For the skill acquisition programmes, we give each student twenty-two thousand five hundred naira stipend a month and the centres get forty-five thousand per student,” he added.
The minister noted that the intervention is designed to reposition technical education as a viable pathway for economic growth, industrial development and youth empowerment in Nigeria.
The initiative, according to him, reflects the Federal Government’s commitment to equipping young Nigerians with practical skills capable of driving innovation, entrepreneurship and self-reliance.
