The World Bank, in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Education, has announced a $10 million investment to help Nigerian youths acquire critical employment skills.
World Bank Education Specialist, Dr. Mistura Rufai, revealed this during a two-day workshop for grantees of the Innovation Grant Facility in Abuja on Monday.
The workshop was organized by the Innovation Development and Effectiveness in the Acquisition of Skills (IDEAS) project of the Federal Ministry of Education.
Rufai emphasized the importance of empowering youths to bolster the country’s economic growth, stating that the initiative aims to train over 50,000 youths nationwide through 78 grantees.
“This facility supports agencies promoting innovations in digital skills training and critical intervention projects in the skills development ecosystem. Currently, 10,000 youths are being trained at various levels, from beginners to advanced,” Rufai said.
The initiative includes a competitive selection process, where potential trainees submit expressions of interest and proposals, which are then evaluated by private sector experts.
National Project Coordinator of IDEAS, Blessing Ogwu, highlighted the program’s goal of providing every Nigerian child with the opportunity to learn and acquire skills, addressing the increasing number of out-of-school children and reducing youth unemployment.
“The essence of this project is to focus on skill acquisition to reduce unemployment in Nigeria,” Ogwu said, urging grantees to commit to the initiative.
Prof. Ndem Ayara, the IGF Consultant, explained that the project is a Public/Private Partnership, with the public sector supporting up to 80% and the private sector providing 20%, split between in-kind and cash contributions.
“The cash component from the private sector is expected to be the counterpart funding,” Ayara added.