The Federal Government has urged state governments to collaborate with it on the implementation of the National Poverty Reduction with Growth Strategy (NPRGS), a major initiative aimed at lifting 100 million Nigerians out of poverty over a 10-year period through economic expansion and targeted social protection programmes.
Senior Special Assistant to the President on Technical, Vocational and Entrepreneurship Education (TVEE), Dr Abiola Arogundade, disclosed this in a statement on Thursday while announcing the continuation of the programme’s rollout with a training exercise in Oyo State.
Arogundade called on state governments, traditional institutions, community leaders and private-sector organisations to work with the Federal Government as the initiative extends to more states across the country.
She described the NPRGS as an important component of President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda, which emphasises the role of Nigerian youths as contributors to solving the country’s challenges.
According to the statement, the programme began its pilot phase in Abuja on June 30, 2025, with a 10-day intensive training programme covering cybersecurity and web development, alongside an advanced solar-energy installation programme.
Arogundade said the Abuja training achieved significant results, noting that participants who initially had doubts about the programme completed the exercise with practical and commercially useful skills. She said trainees developed their first websites, learned basic digital-security concepts and received laptops and certificates after completing the programme.
She added that more than 7,000 people applied for the Abuja training, which she said demonstrated strong interest in the initiative.
Following the initial rollout, the NPRGS is now being extended to different geopolitical zones across the country. Each zone is expected to accommodate 200 trainees in programmes lasting between 10 days and two weeks, resulting in 1,200 beneficiaries during the first nationwide phase.
Arogundade explained that the skills taught in each participating state would be determined by local employment and business opportunities, as well as market demand and the interests of trainees.
In the South-West, the statement said training in Oyo State is scheduled to begin on September 28, 2026, and will run daily for more than two weeks. Participants will receive training in Graphics/Artificial Intelligence (AI) design, makeup and fashion designing.
The programme will also provide participants with training equipment to enable them to continue practising and earning a livelihood after completing the courses.
Graphics/AI trainees will receive laptops, while makeup trainees will get fully equipped makeup kits. Those trained in fashion designing will receive sewing machines and starter kits, while participants in agriculture, particularly yoghurt production, will receive fermentation kits.
The Federal Government identified the main objectives of the initiative as providing Nigerian youths with practical and marketable skills, tackling unemployment and underemployment, encouraging entrepreneurship and self-reliance, and supporting the national target of lifting 100 million Nigerians out of poverty within 10 years.
