Vice President Kashim Shettima has praised Governor Uba Sani for inaugurating the Kaduna State Council on Skills, calling it a benchmark for sub-national skills development initiatives. In a letter from the National Council on Skills (NCS), Shettima commended Sani for personally chairing the council, stating it aligns with the Renewed Hope Agenda. He described the establishment as a proactive step toward reducing unemployment and advancing human capital in line with national goals.
Shettima highlighted that the Kaduna model supports the "Bottom-Up" approach to vocational training, ensuring grassroots access to technical education. He expressed the NCS's readiness for ongoing collaboration with Kaduna to standardize and expand skills interventions. The state has already set up three Kaduna State Institutes of Vocational Training and Skills Development (KIVTSD) in Soba, Rigachikun, and Samarun Kataf. These centres are projected to train 12,000 artisans annually in fields like welding, fashion design, and solar panel installation.
Graduates receive certification through a partnership with the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE). Additionally, the state government plans to transform Panteka Market—home to about 38,000 artisans—into an industrial hub for trades including masonry, carpentry, and metal fabrication.
Uba Sani's personal chairmanship of the Kaduna State Council on Skills is not just administrative detail—it signals a rare governor-level prioritisation of vocational training in a landscape where such portfolios often gather dust. While many states relegate skills development to low-profile agencies, Sani's hands-on role elevates it to a core governance function, making it a political statement as much as a policy move.
This push occurs amid rising youth unemployment and growing pressure on Nigeria's formal job sector, which cannot absorb the millions entering the workforce annually. By anchoring skills acquisition in institutional structure and linking training to certification via NBTE, Kaduna is attempting to close the credibility gap that plagues many state-run artisan programmes. The placement of training centres across all three senatorial zones also suggests deliberate inclusivity, avoiding the usual concentration in urban centres.
For Kaduna's youth and informal sector workers, especially the 38,000 artisans in Panteka Market, this could mean formal recognition, improved earning potential, and integration into broader economic value chains. If sustained, the model may shift how technical work is perceived—from survivalist gig to viable career.
Other states have launched similar initiatives, but few have embedded them within formal governance structures or secured national-level replication interest. Kaduna's approach fits a broader trend of sub-national innovation stepping into the void left by inconsistent federal programming, especially in education and job creation.
