NIGERIA’S GREAT RESET – PART 15
THE YOUTH DIVIDEND: WHY EDUCATION, SKILLS AND ENTERPRISE MUST POWER NIGERIA’S FUTURE
By Gloria Fraser, MFR
President Tinubu has widened access to student finance, vocational education, digital skills and employment pathways—but government officials must communicate these opportunities more effectively and connect training to productive work
OPENING REFLECTION
Nigeria’s youthful population is an enormous reservoir, but a reservoir generates no power until its water is properly channelled. Education provides the channel, skills provide the turbine and productive employment converts youthful energy into national power.
A large youth population is not automatically a demographic dividend. Without education, competence, capital and opportunity, it can deepen unemployment, migration, crime and frustration. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration has established or expanded student financing, vocational training, digital education, workplace placements and enterprise support. These are important foundations, but programmes unknown to their intended beneficiaries remain opportunities only on paper.
EDUCATION WITHOUT FINANCIAL EXCLUSION
The Nigerian Education Loan Fund is one of the administration’s most consequential human-capital reforms. The Student Loans Act, revised in 2024, removed the family-income ceiling and guarantor requirement, extended eligibility to vocational and skills-acquisition students and provided zero-interest support for institutional charges and upkeep. Repayment is linked to employment and income rather than demanded while beneficiaries remain in school or unemployed. State House
By August 2026, NELFUND reported approximately 1.66 million processed applications and cumulative disbursements of ₦322.69 billion. Applications, approved beneficiaries, institutional payments and recurring upkeep transfers must nevertheless be reported separately. NELFUND should publish institution-by-institution disbursements, audited accounts, administrative costs, repayment projections and recoveries. Institutions must not inflate charges because public financing exists, while financially capable graduates must replenish the fund for future students.
RESTORING DIGNITY TO PRACTICAL SKILLS
Nigeria celebrates certificates while importing competence. The Federal Government’s Technical and Vocational Education and Training initiative seeks to correct this imbalance through tuition-free practical instruction, participant stipends and start-up support.
Official information states that a participant receives ₦22,500 monthly—₦17,500 for upkeep and ₦5,000 for transportation—while the training centre separately receives ₦45,000 per trainee. The centre’s instructional payment must not be misrepresented as the student’s allowance. Federal Ministry of Information
Talent is raw material. Education refines it, skills shape it, enterprise markets it and productive work converts it into national wealth. TVET must therefore be judged by competence independently tested, apprenticeships completed, equipment delivered, enterprises created and incomes earned—not registrations or certificates printed.
BUILDING A DIGITAL GENERATION
The Three Million Technical Talent programme recognises that employment is no longer constrained by geography. Its first phase selected 30,000 fellows, while the second was designed for another 270,000. Training covers software development, data analysis, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, cloud computing and product management. 3MTT
A smartphone in skilled hands can become an office, studio, classroom, shop and export terminal. Young Nigerians are exporting talent without boarding an aircraft.
International-trade data indicate that Nigeria exported approximately $1.5 billion in digitally deliverable services in 2024—about $125 million monthly. This is a national estimate covering finance, telecommunications, insurance and professional services; it is not youth-only or remote-work-only income.
Spotify separately reported that Nigerian artists generated more than ₦58 billion in royalties during 2024—about $38 million at the conversion used in contemporary reporting. This demonstrates creative reach, but not that the entire amount entered Nigeria as foreign exchange or accrued exclusively to young artists. Reuters
No credible public source provides a complete monthly figure for Nigerian youth earnings from remote work, YouTube, TikTok or other platforms. Government, banks, payment companies and platforms should publish anonymised data so policy is not built upon speculation.
SEVEN OPPORTUNITIES YOUNG NIGERIANS SHOULD KNOW
1. TVET Initiative: Tuition-free training in approved trades, with stipends and possible start-up support. Applicants should follow verified Federal Ministry of Education and Information channels.
2. Nigerian Youth Academy and NiYA Gigs: Courses in technology, entrepreneurship, leadership and creative industries, with a platform intended to connect skilled Nigerians to freelance work. Cohorts should be confirmed through the Ministry of Youth Development.
3. NELFUND Student Loan: Zero-interest support for eligible tertiary, vocational and skills-acquisition students through NELFUND. It is repayable financing—not a grant.
4. Nigeria Jubilee Fellows Programme 2.0: Workplace experience for eligible graduates through the official NJFP portal.
5. Labour Employment and Empowerment Programme: Skills, employment and entrepreneurship pathways through LEEP.
6. Three Million Technical Talent Programme: Digital and technology training through the 3MTT portal.
7. SMEDAN Enterprise Support: Registration, mentoring, funding information and market support through SMEDAN and its verified portals.
Application periods and eligibility requirements change. Young people should confirm each cohort on official portals and reject demands for unauthorised payments.
TRAINING MUST PRODUCE WORK
Certificates do not automatically create livelihoods. Employers must help design curricula, assess competence and provide placements. Banks and development institutions should finance viable graduates, while lawful procurement opportunities should support qualified young enterprises without sacrificing standards.
India’s skills platforms demonstrate the value of scale; Kenya’s Ajira Digital programme connects training with online work; and South Africa’s student-finance experience shows both the importance and fiscal demands of widening access. Nigeria should adopt what works without copying any system mechanically.
Education Minister Tunji Alausa captured the national stakes: “If Nigeria gets Human Capital Development right, inclusive growth and sustainable national development become achievable realities.” Jigawa Governor Umar Namadi similarly said: “Education remains our most sustainable investment, and for any entity, there is no greater asset than its human resources.” The Guardian
At council level, Kosofe Local Government rebuilt Mosafejo Nursery and Primary School in Oworonshoki. Chairman Moyosore Ogunlewe stated: “Our vision is to see every school in our local government area transformed into a centre of excellence.” Lagos Community News Review
Federal agencies should create one unified youth-opportunity directory carrying verified programmes, eligibility rules, deadlines and complaint channels. Information must also reach markets, schools, councils, religious institutions, community radio and social media in plain English, Pidgin and indigenous languages.
Accountability must accompany communication. Every programme should publish the number of applications received, participants admitted, courses completed, certificates independently validated, placements secured, businesses started and beneficiaries still earning after six or twelve months. Results should be disaggregated by state, gender, disability and rural or urban location without exposing personal information. This would reveal where opportunity is reaching citizens and where exclusion persists. It would also prevent ministries from presenting registrations as jobs or training attendance as economic empowerment. Public dashboards, accessible appeals and independent evaluation would protect genuine achievements from political exaggeration while helping government redirect resources towards programmes that produce measurable improvements in competence, income and productivity.
THE FINAL WORD
President Tinubu’s student-finance, vocational-training, digital-skills and employment initiatives provide credible foundations for converting Nigeria’s youth population into productive national power. But access must produce learning; training must produce competence; and competence must produce employment, enterprise, exports and rising productivity.
Nigeria’s young people do not lack talent. They require accessible pathways through which talent becomes skill, income, enterprise and sustainable national progress.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
“A programme hidden from its intended beneficiaries is an opportunity only on paper.”
THE NATIONAL PATRIOTS’ POSITION
The National Patriots commends President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s efforts to widen access to education, skills, employment and enterprise support. Government must communicate these opportunities, protect applicants from fraud and publish results measured by competence, employment, businesses created, income and exports.
Nigeria’s youth must become builders, employers, innovators and productive partners in the Great Reset.
Princess Gloria Adebajo-Fraser, MFR
President, The National Patriots
Former Special Adviser to President Goodluck Jonathan, GCFR
Vice-Chairman, Strategic Communications Committee, Buhari PCC 2019
Member, Strategy Committee, Presidency 2023.
