The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), in partnership with the Lagos State Employment Trust Fund (LSETF), has launched the Skills for Prosperity Nigeria, a programme targeted at enabling a new and inclusive pathway to career-oriented learning through an industry-led national apprenticeship and training system.
This programme was announced on Tuesday, September 28, 2021, at the official launch event and signing ceremony to formalize the partnership between the Lagos State Government and the United Kingdom.
Skills for Prosperity in Nigeria (S4P-N) is a two-year FCDO funded programme, that will provide technical support and capacity building interventions to improve, institutionalise and promote a National Apprenticeship and Training System under the Industrial Training Fund (ITF), a government agency under the Ministry of Industry, Trade, and Investment.
Speaking at the signing ceremony, Executive Secretary, Lagos State Employment Trust Fund (LSETF), Mrs Teju Abisoye stated that this partnership is critical to the overarching aim of the present administration towards building a 21st-century economy.
“We are excited about this partnership, as it aligns with the mandate of the agency to upskill at least 50,000 residents in Lagos; with this programme, we are optimistic that we are in the right direction towards achieving and surpassing this objective.”
During his goodwill message, Deputy High Commissioner, British Deputy High Commission Lagos, Mr Ben Llewellyn-Jones OBE stated that “We are elated that this programme aligns with the agenda of the current administration and will help produce disciplined, positive and instructive youths in Lagos State through the programmes’ detailed and well structured engagement processes”.
During the signing ceremony, Acting Team Lead, Skills for Prosperity Programme, Sybil Ferris, stated that “Skills for Prosperity is a United Kingdom funded programme implemented across nine African countries including Nigeria. This programme allows us to implement and institutionalize a formal apprenticeship and training system that supports enterprise development and provide youth with decent jobs. Through robust sector skills assessment, three key sectors in high demand have been identified – Agriculture, Information Communications Technology, and the Creative industry, hence our focus will be targeted at upskilling youths in these sectors and placing them in gainful employment”
The programme will involve the participation of government, private sector, and public/private training providers (Technical Colleges, Polytechnics, and Universities) in the delivery of nationally recognized programmes at level 2-5 of the Nigeria Skills Qualification Framework (NSQF) to increase access, improve quality and relevance of skills, as well as ease school-to-work transition as a new pathway to a career-oriented education and training for all categories of youth especially women and persons with disabilities (PwDs).
Nigeria is one of the nine fast-growing economies across the globe where the Skills for Prosperity Programme will be implemented. In Lagos State, S4P-N by 2023 would have directly impacted 2000 Nigerian youth, women and PwDs with skills to create and acquire sustainable employment in the Agribusiness, ICT and Creatives sectors, thereby indirectly impacting tens of thousands of more beneficiaries across the nation through an approach that would scale across states and regions soon.
The S4P-N is implemented by the Palladium International Development Limited in Nigeria.
