Kaduna: Uba Sani gives financial lifeline to artisans, promises job opportunities

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

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

The financial support is to enable graduates to purchase essential tools and use them as seed capital for initial working capital, professional registration or transportation expenses to seek employment opportunities, he added.

Governor Uba Sani said the Kaduna State Government is also “engaging businesses 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 enrollment and graduation numbers; It will be the number of graduates employed, businesses created, incomes improved, contracts secured and communities transformed,” he promised.

The governor said that by 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 broader economy.”

He argued that his administration is “building an ecosystem where young people are self-reliant,” where a woman can turn a skill into a business; where a person with a 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 Abdulkadir Balarabe Musa campus, Rigachikun; Abubakar Dangiwa Umar Campus, Soba; and Sir Patrick Ibrahim Yakowa Campus, Samaru Kataf.

Governor Uba Sani stressed that the Institute was conceived as an engine of economic transformation, aimed “to equip our people with skills that are useful in Kaduna, competitive in Nigeria and relevant to the rest of the world”.

Describing the training as “deliberately practical, complemented by theory, literacy, numeracy, entrepreneurship and soft skills”, he said graduates were trained in fourteen business areas.

Trade areas include electrical installation, welding and fabrication, aluminum fabrication, computer hardware repair and maintenance, food service and hospitality, bricklaying, refrigeration and air conditioning.

Different categories of graduates were also taught fashion designing and garment making, carpentry and carpentry, painting and decorating, tiling, plumbing and pipe fittings, solar installation and automotive mechatronics, the Governor added.

According to him, the Institute’s partnership with the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) enables it to “provide training in accordance with national professional standards and to award national skills qualification under the Nigerian Skills Qualifications Framework”.

The governor stressed that training at the three campuses is free, adding that particular attention is given to women, people with disabilities and young people from disadvantaged communities.

He said his administration had also built an institutional framework to support the vision of skills acquisition and development, with the inauguration of the Kaduna State Council On Skills, which he chaired.

Vice President Kashim Shettima and the National Skills Council recognized “Kaduna’s pioneering approach and praised the Kaduna model as a model for a bottom-up approach to skills acquisition,” he added.

The governor disclosed that “at the 6th National Construction Craftsmen Awards in Abuja in February 2026, our trainee, Ibrahim Abubakar Jikamshi, emerged first in welding and was named the overall best craftsman of the year.”

Governor Uba Sani thanked President Bola Tinubu for his unwavering support for his administration, recalling that he commissioned the Institutes in June 2025, affirming his ”belief in the youth of Kaduna and our determination to transform their potential into a productive force”.