Governor Uba Sani has approved ₦200,000 for each of the 4,050 graduates of Kaduna State Institute of Vocational Training and Skills Development, amounting to ₦810 million, to ease their transition from training to productive work.

The governor who made the pledge at the maiden graduation ceremony at the Balarabe Musa campus of the Institute at Rigachukun on Thursday, disclosed that the fund would be administered through the Kaduna State Enterprise Development Agency.

Mr Sani said the financial support was to enable the graduates purchase essential tools and use it as seed money for initial working capital, professional registration or transport fare to look for employment opportunities.

Mr Sani said that Kaduna State Government is also “engaging companies and industries to create opportunities for direct employment, apprenticeships, internships, mentorship, subcontracting and other structured engagements.’

“We are also developing a digital platform to connect graduates with employers and track employment outcomes. Our measure of success will ultimately go beyond enrolment and graduation figures; it will be the number of graduates employed, enterprises created, incomes improved, contracts secured and communities transformed.”

The governor said that having qualified for the National Skills Qualification Level II, the graduates “represent a new generation of skilled citizens prepared to create value for themselves, their families, their communities and the wider economy.’’

He noted that his administration was “building an ecosystem where young persons will be self reliant, where a woman can transform a skill into an enterprise; where a person living with disability can participate fully in the economy; and where an artisan can move from informal subsistence to globally competitive craftsmanship.’’

According to him, Kaduna State has three campuses of the Institute, namely the Abdulkadir Balarabe Musa Campus, Rigachikun; Abubakar Dangiwa Umar Campus, Soba; and Sir Patrick Ibrahim Yakowa Campus, Samaru Kataf.

Mr Sani pointed out that the institute was conceived as engines of economic transformation, aimed ” to equip our people with skills that are useful in Kaduna, competitive in Nigeria and relevant to the wider world.’’

Describing the training as “deliberately practical, complemented by theory, literacy, numeracy, entrepreneurship and soft skills,’’ he said that graduates were trained across fourteen trade areas.

The trade areas include electrical installation, welding and fabrication, aluminium fabrication, computer hardware repairs and maintenance, catering and hospitality, masonry, refrigeration and air conditioning.

The governor added that different categories of the graduates were also taught fashion design and garment making, carpentry and joinery, painting and decoration, tiling, plumbing and pipe fitting, solar installation, and automotive mechatronics.

According to him, the institute’s partnership with the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) enables it “to deliver training in accordance with National Occupational Standards and award the National Skills Qualification under the Nigerian Skills Qualifications Framework.”

The governor emphasised that training across the three campuses was tuition-free, adding that attention was given to women, persons with disabilities and young people from underserved communities.

He said that his administration had also built an institutional framework to sustain the vision of skills acquisition and development, with the inauguration of Kaduna State Council On Skills, which on which he also serves as chairman.

He added that Vice President Kashim Shettima and the National Council on Skills have recognised “Kaduna’s pioneering approach and commending the Kaduna Model as a template for a grassroots, bottom-up approach to skills acquisition.”

The governor noted that “at the 6th National Construction Artisans Award in Abuja in February 2026, our trainee, Ibrahim Abubakar Jikamshi, emerged first in Welding and was named Overall Best Artisan of the Year.’’

Mr Sani thanked President Bola Tinubu for his steadfast support for his administration, recalling that he inaugurated the institutes in June 2025, affirming his ‘’belief in Kaduna’s young people and our determination to transform their potential into productive power.’’