NELFUND, ITF Move to Train Thousands of Skilled Nigerian Artisans

NELFUND and ITF are exploring a partnership to expand vocational and technical training, helping Nigerian youths gain practical skills and certifications.

For years, Nigeria’s skills development debate has centred on concerns about an overemphasis on certificates and theory at the expense of practical competence.

A proposed partnership between the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) and the Industrial Training Fund (ITF) could offer a new approach by placing practical and technical skills at the centre of training.

The collaboration is expected to support vocational training, with artisans and aspiring craftsmen receiving hands-on instruction from expatriate trainers and working towards internationally recognised certifications.

A recent visit to one of the training centres by ITF Director of Special Duties, Kayode Alakija, highlighted the progress made by trainees after just three weeks.

At the tiling section, trainees recreated a real-life toilet environment, including installing a water closet and tiling around it. Alakija said the exercise was designed to expose participants to situations they could encounter on actual construction sites.

The same practical approach was evident in the carpentry workshop, where trainees were producing benches, racks, rafters and roofing structures.

Mukta Oloriegbe, a Level One Diploma trainee in carpentry, said the programme had also taught participants the importance of workplace safety, an area he said many Nigerian artisans often overlook.

The training extends to drylining, painting and decoration, bricklaying and block making, combining classroom theory with practical exercises.

British carpentry tutor Andy Cranham said trainees had progressed from learning basic joints to constructing truss rafters and hand-cut roofs within three weeks, using hand tools to develop fundamental carpentry skills.

The initiative comes amid wider concerns over Nigeria’s education and labour market challenges. UNICEF says more than 10 million primary school-age children remain out of school, while 75 per cent of children aged seven to 14 cannot read a simple sentence or solve a basic mathematics problem.

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) also reported unemployment at 4.3 per cent in the second quarter of 2024, while informal employment remained as high as 93 per cent. This highlights the importance of self-employment, apprenticeships, trades and other practical pathways for many Nigerians.

NELFUND’s move into vocational training follows its earlier plan to extend student loans to skills acquisition programmes. In November 2025, Managing Director Akintunde Sawyerr announced plans to expand the scheme beyond conventional tertiary education following President Bola Tinubu’s directive.

The proposed partnership with ITF could provide the practical training structure needed to implement that policy.

The scale of NELFUND’s operations also makes the initiative significant. As of August 2026, the Fund had received 1.6 million applications and disbursed more than N322 billion across 319 beneficiary institutions.

If financing is extended effectively to vocational and technical education, Nigerians seeking careers as carpenters, tilers, painters, electricians, plumbers, bricklayers and other skilled professionals could access structured training without bearing the full cost upfront.

Alakija said ITF plans to replicate the training model across Nigeria’s geopolitical zones, allowing artisans and master craftsmen from accredited centres to learn how to establish effective practical training facilities.

He acknowledged concerns that some trained artisans could eventually leave Nigeria but said the programme would encourage them to pass their knowledge to others.

“If we’re able to produce some thousands of artisans in various trades for five continuous years, then our story will change in Nigeria,” he said.

The World Bank’s 2026 human capital assessment also reinforces the economic importance of education and skills, noting that stronger human capital can contribute to higher earnings over time.

For NELFUND and ITF, the challenge now is to move beyond the pilot stage and scale the model nationwide. If successfully implemented, the partnership could help produce a new generation of skilled Nigerians capable of building, repairing, creating and earning through their own practical abilities.