Applications are now open for the second cohort of the Federal Government's Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Programme, the Ministry of Education announced on Monday. Each trainee will receive a monthly stipend of N22,500 for the duration of the course. Boriowo Folasade, the Ministry's Director of Press and Public Relations, issued the statement inviting eligible Nigerians to apply for the skills-based scheme.
The programme forms part of the ministry's push to expand technical education and equip youths with employable skills. Details of the application portal and entry requirements were not released in Monday's brief statement.
A stipend of N22,500 for a month of training is barely enough to cover transport and lunch in today's Nigeria, yet Abuja presents it as a magnet for applicants. The Ministry's press release offers no clarity on how many slots exist, how long the course lasts, or whether graduates will be linked to actual jobs, leaving the impression that the cash is the main hook.
This is the same playbook the government has used for N-Power, GEEP, and other "empowerment" schemes: announce a token allowance, flood the media with the call for applications, and count the headlines as policy success. With inflation above 33% and the minimum wage conversation stuck at N30,000, the N22,500 figure looks suspiciously like a rounding down rather than a serious living support.
For young Nigerians weighing the offer, the real cost-benefit calculation is grim. Three months of training at N22,500 equals N67,500—less than the current price of a bag of rice. If the certificate does not come with placement or starter capital, graduates will simply rejoin the unemployment queue with a new line on their CV.
The wider pattern is hard to miss: every election cycle, federal ministries roll out "skills acquisition" adverts that peak just as voter registration begins. When the polls close, the funding evaporates, the portals crash, and the cycle reboots four years later.
