The Federal Government has announced a new national skills programme aimed at connecting 20 million young Nigerians to jobs, training, and entrepreneurship opportunities by 2030, with at least 60 per cent of beneficiaries expected to be women.
This is just as Vice President Kashim Shettima has assumed the chairmanship position of the reactivated Board of Generation Unlimited (GenU) Nigeria, with a mandate to connect 20 million young Nigerians to employment opportunities by 2030.
Speaking during the inaugural board meeting of Generation Unlimited Nigeria, VP Shettima described Nigeria’s youthful population as the nation’s superpower and comparative advantage in a rapidly ageing world.
The GenU board meeting coincided with International Youth Day 2025, themed “Youth Innovation for a Sustainable Future.”
“With over 60 per cent of our population below the age of 25, we cannot afford to squander this asset. An advantage unrealised is merely potential wasted. We must refine it, we must invest in it, and we must channel it towards productive destinies,” the Vice President said.
VP Shettima warned that Nigeria’s “national skills ecosystem faces a trilemma” with too many young people excluded from the start, training disconnected from livelihoods, and inadequate infrastructure for large-scale hands-on learning.
“Another isolated training scheme will not deliver us from these constraints. What we need is systemic change—a new architecture built to last,” he added.
The centrepiece of this push is the Digital Access and Livelihoods Initiative (DALI), described as a demand-driven national talent pipeline that will link foundational and work-readiness training directly to guaranteed jobs or enterprise pathways.
“We need a platform to unify government, private sector leaders, development partners, and the boundless energy of our youth under a single banner. This is a proposition to attract coordinated investment and replace fragmented efforts with a common front,” VP Shettima said.
