By Ibrahim Hassan-Wuyo

Vice President Kashim Shettima has praised Kaduna State Governor, Senator Uba Sani, for establishing Nigeria’s first State Council on Skills, describing it as a game-changer for human capital development and urging other states to follow Kaduna’s example.

Speaking at the 7th meeting of the National Council on Skills (NCS) on Tuesday at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, Shettima said the skills revolution is central to President Bola Tinubu’s covenant with Nigerians and essential for job creation and economic transformation.

“The era of operating in silos is over. We must embed collaboration into curriculum development and funding. This is about the artisan in Kaura Namoda, the mid-career worker in Ebute-Metta, and the technical colleges that must become true centres of excellence,” Shettima said.

He commended Governor Sani’s leadership in skills development, noting that the recent admission of over 30,000 students into the Kaduna Vocational and Skills Development Institute demonstrates a strong commitment to workforce empowerment and tackling unemployment.

Also speaking, Minister of Education Dr. Olatunji Alausa highlighted Governor Sani’s role in facilitating President Tinubu’s commissioning of the Institute of Vocational Training and Skills Development in Kaduna. He revealed that technical colleges nationwide are now being refocused to offer courses aligned with industry needs and labour market demands.

Shettima urged NCS members to unite behind a single national framework for skills development, cautioning that a fragmented approach would undermine Nigeria’s efforts to build a future-ready workforce.

“We cannot build a workforce for the future on a foundation of division. Collaboration, synergy, and alignment are the cornerstones of this skills revolution,” he added.