* Lauds Gov Sani for setting up first state council on skills

Deji Elumoye in Abuja 

Vice-President Kashim Shettima has called for collective action to actualise the administration’s skills acquisition drive, saying the era of working in isolation is over.

This is just as he commended the Kaduna State Governor, Senator Uba Sani, for setting up and chairing the first Kaduna State Council on Skills, describing it as exemplary and urging other subnational governments to follow suit.

The vice-president charged relevant stakeholders to unite in ensuring that every Nigerian acquires the skills needed to thrive in line with the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Tinubu.

Speaking during the 7th meeting of the National Council on Skills (NCS) at the State House, Abuja, Shettima noted that the skills revolution is one of the covenants the Tinubu administration has entered into with the Nigerian people and is central to its promise of human capital development.

He urged government officials, public servants and the private sector to forge the needed harmony, focus, vision and drive to accomplish the council’s objectives.

“Let me be clear about what this means. The era of operating in silos is over. We must move towards a new streamlined workflow that embeds collaboration directly into the process of curriculum development and funding.

“This new process isn’t just for our own convenience; it is for the ambitious artisan in Kaura Namoda seeking certification; for the mid-career worker in Ebute-Metta; and for the technical colleges across the nation that need funding to become true centres of excellence,” Shettima emphasised.

The vice-president thanked all members of the council for their robust engagement and for their clear understanding that institutional friction within Nigeria’s skills ecosystem has become an unacceptable obstacle to national progress and must be addressed.

“And fulfilling such a promise is not contingent on inter-agency harmony; it demands it. We have to unite. We simply cannot build a future-ready workforce on a foundation of division,” he added.

On the Federal Government’s skills revolution drive, Shettima maintained that no door to funding can be unlocked without collaboration among relevant agencies and ministries.

He urged the council to continue striving to develop and enforce a unified structure for Nigeria’s skills revolution.

“We must replace fragmentation with a framework for partnership. We must replace indecision with a clear and resolute path forward. Let’s move from this room to the work of implementation with a single mind and a shared purpose,” he said.

Earlier, Governor Uba Sani recalled that the Kaduna Vocational and Skills Development Institute recently admitted over 30,000 students. 

He thanked the vice-president for his strong commitment to ensuring that the council achieves its established goals, particularly in job creation.

Also speaking, the Minister of Education, Dr. Olatunji Alausa, commended the Governor of Kaduna State for playing a significant role in facilitating President Tinubu’s commissioning of the Institute of Vocational Training and Skills Development.

He added that in line with the government’s skills acquisition drive, the ministry has directed technical colleges to focus exclusively on relevant courses for the new academic year.

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