The Federal Government has launched a 10-day “Train the Trainer” program for instructors in Federal Technical Colleges as part of efforts to strengthen Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) and bridge Nigeria’s growing skills gap.
The training, organized by the Federal Ministry of Education in collaboration with the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE), commenced in Abuja on Monday.
Speaking at the opening ceremony, the National Project Coordinator of the Special Programs Operations and Implementation Unit (SPOIU) in the Office of the Minister of Education, Mr. Adebayo Onigbanjo, said the initiative was designed to build the capacity of instructors who would, in turn, train other educators in their institutions.
According to him, participants will be equipped with modern teaching techniques, competency-based assessment methods, and practical skills delivery to better prepare students for the labor market.
Onigbanjo said the program became necessary in response to the overwhelming response to the Federal Government’s TVET initiative launched in 2025.
He disclosed that about 1.3 million Nigerians registered for the program, underscoring the urgent need to expand the country’s pool of qualified technical instructors.
“The ultimate goal is to increase capacity. We need more people.
“Last year, when the program was inaugurated, we had 1.3 million Nigerians signing up to be trained. To meet that demand, we also need to train the trainers.
“The expectation is that those trained will return to their schools and train their colleagues, thereby scaling up our training capacity nationwide,” he said.
He explained that the first phase of the program would train 60 instructors over 10 days in Abuja, while another batch of 60 participants would undergo similar training in Lagos in October.
The participants were drawn from Federal Technical Colleges across the country and are already familiar with the existing TVET curriculum.
Also speaking, the Program Lead and Technical Assistant to the Minister of Education, Nabila Muhammad, said the initiative aimed to strengthen educators’ capacity through competency-based teaching methods that place greater emphasis on practical skills.
“The expectation is that the trainers will leave knowing how to make their teaching more competency-based.
“Instead of focusing mainly on theory, they will integrate technical skills into learning and better prepare students for the workplace,” she said.
A Singaporean facilitator, Choo Lian, said participants would be exposed to globally recognized pedagogical approaches used in Singapore for teaching technical and vocational skills.
She explained that the training focuses on effective demonstrations, learner participation, constructive feedback and competency-based assessment.
“We are not teaching the various trades themselves. We are teaching the pedagogical skills required to teach whichever trade they specialize in.
“When teaching practical skills, there is a set of performance criteria based on industry expectations, and those criteria are used to assess students’ competencies,” she said.
One of the participants, Assistant Director of Education at the Federal Technical College, Ijebu-Mushin, Mr. Adegoke Odebode, described the program as timely, saying it would strengthen instructors’ ability to deliver practical, industry-driven training.
He expressed confidence that the knowledge acquired would significantly improve the quality of technical education and produce graduates with skills that meet industry needs.
SOURCE: NAN
