About IDEAS

The IDEAS project is a World Bank-assisted project of Federal Ministry of Education (FME) of the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN), which aims to enhance the capacity of the Nigerian skills development system to produce relevant skills for the formal and informal sectors of the economy. The project represents a first step of a long-term programmatic approach of the Government of Nigeria to re-engineer the skills development system in Nigeria towards systemically aligning skills development in Nigeria with the needs of a dynamic and increasingly diversified economy and the skills requirements of modern employment, which go beyond narrowly defined technical competencies and include digital, foundational, socio-emotional and life-long learning skills as well. The IDEAS project will help the government to lay and consolidate critical foundations for this reform by strengthening the regulatory framework, institutionalizing industry involvement, introducing the concept of digital literacy across the skills development system, improving training delivery structures through the use of technology, reforming the system of technical teachers and instructors training and management, and building planning and research capacities.

The project will operate (1) at federal level – supporting the improvement of Federal Science and Technical Colleges (FSTC), improving the training and availability of technical teachers and instructors, as well as enhancing the FGN’s regulatory and management capacities for skills development – and (2) at state level – supporting the improvement of State Technical Colleges (STC), raising the quality and relevance of apprenticeship training in the informal sector and enhancing state-level management capacities for skills development. State-level interventions will initially focus on six participating states, namely Abia, Benue, Edo, Ekiti, Gombe and Kano. The range of states may be expanded at a later stage. The main implementing partners in the project are the FME, the National Board of Technical Education (NBTE) and the governments of the six participating states.

1. Incentivizing partnerships with industry for enhanced quality and labour-market orientation of public Technical Colleges.
2. Improving skills formation in the informal sector.
3. Increasing the availability of competent and motivated technical teachers and instructors.
4. Strengthening the regulatory environment and public management capacities for market-oriented skills development.

to enhance the capacity of the Nigerian skills development system to produce relevant skills for the formal and informal sectors.

• Percentage of employers of graduates from supported TC programs indicating that they are satisfied with the performance of graduates;
• Female participation rate in project-supported TCs;
• Number of youths obtaining recognized skills certification after completing an informal apprenticeship (and percentage of whom are female and disaggregated by people with disabilities);
• Number of youths completing supported skills development programs with basic digital skills competencies (disaggregated by females and people with disabilities);
• Number of direct project beneficiaries (disaggregated by females and people with disabilities).

A key challenge currently confronting Nigeria and its education sector is the high rate of youth unemployment. Most graduates produced every year in the country’s educational institutions are unable to secure employment, due to inadequate knowledge and skills, notably ‘hands on’ skills. On the other hand, appropriately skilled workers are urgently needed in the labour market. Most industries are increasingly using advanced technologies and production techniques, which require a workforce with continually increasing level of knowledge and skills.

Against this background, in 2016 the Technology and Science Education Department (TSED) of the FME conducted a study and a related workshop at the request of the FGN on prevailing skills gaps. This involved all major stakeholders drawn from Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment (FMoL&E), Finance (FMF), Industry, Trade & Investment, Science & Technology (FMoS&T), National Planning Commission (NPC), Industrial Training Fund (ITF), Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND), NBTE, National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration (NIEPA), National Business and Technical Examinations Board (NABTEB), National Universities Commission (NUC), National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE), Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN), Representatives of the Tertiary Institutions, Secondary Schools, Industries and FME departments, among others.

During this workshop stakeholders identified the following key challenges in Nigeria’s educational system to addressing the skills gaps:

1. Inadequate infrastructure and instructional materials in most institutions of learning to promote ‘hands-on’ training;
2. Weak linkages between educational institutions and the industries;
3. poor funding of education sector;
4. Inadequate capacity building of teachers and workshop/laboratory staff;
5. Inadequate qualified technical teachers, workshop/laboratory technologists and technicians at all levels of education.