Abuja: The Federal Government has commenced a 10-day ‘Train the Trainer’ programme for instructors in Federal Technical Colleges aimed at strengthening Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) across the country. Mr. Adebayo Onigbanjo, National Project Coordinator, Special Programmes Operations and Implementation Unit (SPOIU), Office of the Minister of Education, disclosed this at the opening of the ITE Education Services (ITEES) training in Abuja on Monday.
According to News Agency of Nigeria, the training is organised by the Federal Ministry of Education in collaboration with the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE). Onigbanjo stated that the initiative aims to build the capacity of instructors who would, in turn, train their colleagues in their respective institutions. The programme is designed to equip educators with modern teaching methods, competency-based assessment techniques, and practical skills delivery to improve workforce readiness among students.
He explained that the programme became necessary following the overwhelming response to the federal government’s TVET initiative inaugurated in 2025. Approximately 1.3 million Nigerians registered for the programme, making it imperative to expand the country’s pool of qualified trainers. The first phase of the exercise will train 60 instructors over 10 days, while another cohort of 60 participants will undergo similar training in Lagos in October. Participants are drawn from Federal Technical Colleges across the country and are already familiar with the existing curriculum.
Onigbanjo emphasized the ultimate goal of increasing capacity, stating, “We need more people. Last year when the programme was inaugurated, we had 1.3 million Nigerians signing up to be trained. To meet that demand, we also need to train the trainers. The expectation is that those trained will return to their schools and train their colleagues, thereby scaling up our training capacity nationwide.”
Nabila Muhammad, Programme Lead and Technical Assistant to the Minister of Education, highlighted that the objective was to strengthen the capacity of educators in technical colleges by exposing them to competency-based teaching approaches. Muhammad noted that the training would enable instructors to place greater emphasis on practical skills rather than classroom theory, preparing students more effectively for the workplace.
Singaporean facilitator, Choo Lian, said the programme would expose participants to proven pedagogical methods used in Singapore for teaching practical and technical skills. The training focuses on effective demonstrations, student participation, constructive feedback, and competency-based assessment. “We are not teaching the various trades themselves. We are teaching the pedagogical skills required to teach whichever trade they specialise in,” she explained.
One of the participants, Adegoke Odebode, an Assistant Director of Education at Federal Technical College, Ijebu-Mushin, described the programme as timely, expressing optimism that the knowledge gained would enhance instructors’ ability to deliver practical, industry-relevant training and improve the quality of technical education in the country.