VICE President Kashim Shettima has commended Kaduna State Governor, Senator Uba Sani, for establishing Nigeria’s first-ever State Council on Skills, describing the initiative as a bold and transformative step toward equipping citizens with the tools needed for national development.
Speaking on Tuesday during the 7th meeting of the National Council on Skills (NCS) held at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, Shettima praised Kaduna’s pioneering role, noting that it aligns perfectly with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration’s agenda to prioritize human capital development.
According to the Vice President, the skills revolution is at the heart of the Federal Government’s covenant with Nigerians, and Kaduna’s model provides a practical blueprint that other states must adopt.
“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 declared.
He highlighted Kaduna’s recent admission of over 30,000 students into the Kaduna Vocational and Skills Development Institute as a strong demonstration of Governor Sani’s commitment to job creation, employability, and empowerment.
The Vice President added that building a future-ready workforce requires breaking down institutional barriers, aligning government efforts with the private sector and academia, and ensuring that skills training responds to modern economic demands.
Also speaking at the meeting, the Minister of Education, Dr. Olatunji Alausa, praised Governor Sani’s leadership in facilitating President Tinubu’s commissioning of the Kaduna Institute of Vocational Training and Skills Development.
He disclosed that technical colleges nationwide are being restructured to focus exclusively on demand-driven courses.
Shettima urged members of the National Council on Skills to rally around a unified framework for Nigeria’s skills revolution, cautioning that “we cannot build a future-ready workforce on a foundation of division.”
With Kaduna blazing the trail through Governor Uba Sani’s vision, the Vice President expressed confidence that Nigeria is taking concrete steps toward unleashing the potential of its youthful population.
