With Nigeria’s growing population and the high unemployment rate especially among its youth, there is the need to improve the quality of skills needed for the labour market. This has been a fundamental concern for policymakers, TVET practitioners and private sector employers, given that TVET can provide quality education and training for the current and future world of work.
To address this, on Thursday 11 of November 2021, dignitaries, and stakeholders in the Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) and labour sectors converged at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja for a two-day event titled National Conference on Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) organised by the Federal Ministry of Education (FMOE) in collaboration with the programme Skills Development for Youth Employment – SKYE.
The objective of the conference themed “Repositioning TVET Through Policy and Legislative Options” was to promote cooperation and coordination of national policy reforms, transparency, and accountability by key ministries implementing TVET measures and representatives from the private sector and international organizations. It was also an avenue to announce the joint “Declaration of Cooperation in TVET for Quality Skills Outcome” developed by the FMOE with support of GIZ-SKYE, signed by the FMOE; Ministry of Labour and Employment; Industry, Ministry of Trade and Investment; Ministry of Science and Technology, and the Ministry of Youth and Sports Development.
The Country Director of GIZ Nigeria & ECOWAS, Ina Hommers in her welcome address said that GIZ will continue to assist partners to adapt vocational training measures that meet the labour market needs. While the GIZ Sustainable Economic Development Cluster (SEDEC) Coordinator and Head of SKYE Programme, Hans-Ludwig Bruns, said during his goodwill speech that the ‘TVET system must play a crucial role in offering young people a promising future in Nigeria’. He highlighted that to reach this goal, ministries in the TVET sector need to work together, and the private sector needs to be included in the TVET reform system.
The event ended with participant stressing the need that TVET approaches need to be adjusted to the regional labour market demand and have decentralised approaches to prepare graduates better for the labour market. This they agreed should be in collaboration with the private sector. The National Conference on TVET kick-starts further dialogue that will take place in 2022.
