The Federal Government has begun distributing starter packs to 18,510 Nigerians who completed the first batch of the Renewed Hope Vocational and Skills Training Programme, as part of efforts to turn skills acquisition into sustainable livelihoods and employment.
The beneficiaries, drawn from the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, underwent two weeks of intensive vocational training at more than 230 accredited centres across the country under the National Social Investment Programme Agency (NSIPA).
Speaking at the programme’s closing ceremony in Abuja, the National Programme Manager, NPOWER, Dr Nsikak Okon, said the government had introduced a technology-driven monitoring system to track beneficiaries and ensure that the starter packs reached the intended recipients and were properly utilised.
Okon said beneficiaries were enrolled on a dedicated portal that uses GPS technology to monitor their locations, while a call centre was established to provide support and resolve challenges arising from the programme.
He said the system would also promote transparency, allowing beneficiaries to view details of the equipment assigned to them and report deficiencies or defects through the established channels.
The training covered a wide range of trades, including automobile and agricultural technology, baking and confectionery, carpentry and furniture making, catering, electrical installation, hospitality, jewellery and bead making, masonry, plumbing, welding and fabrication.
Other areas included fashion design and sewing, grinding machine operation, vulcanising and tyre services.
Beyond technical training, participants were exposed to entrepreneurship development, financial literacy, business planning, customer relations and enterprise management to strengthen their ability to establish and sustain small businesses.
Okon also disclosed that each beneficiary received N60,000 as transport allowance for the two-week training period.
The NSIPA National Coordinator and Chief Executive Officer, Badamasi Lawal, described the completion of the training as a major step towards restoring productive assets and expanding economic opportunities for vulnerable Nigerians.
Lawal said much of the vocational equipment now being distributed had remained unused in storage for more than five years before the government recovered, refurbished and deployed the items to newly trained beneficiaries.
He said the intervention was aligned with the administration’s social investment agenda and aimed at transforming government-owned assets into tools for job creation and enterprise development.
The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction, Dr Bernard Doro, described the initiative as part of the government’s broader strategy to move Nigerians from temporary relief to sustainable economic independence.
Doro said the programme reflected a shift from conventional palliative interventions towards a system that links social support with skills acquisition, productive assets, enterprise development and eventual graduation from poverty.
He described the approach as “from palliatives to pathways,” stressing that beneficiaries should be supported through the stages of acquiring skills, receiving productive assets, establishing businesses and becoming economically self-reliant.
The minister also commended the recovery and refurbishment of vocational equipment that had remained unused in government warehouses, saying the move would ensure that public assets were put to productive use.
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Doro urged the beneficiaries to maximise the opportunities provided by the programme, noting that they were leaving not only with certificates but with practical skills and equipment capable of supporting immediate income-generating activities.
The Renewed Hope Vocational and Skills Training Programme is part of the Federal Government’s broader social investment and poverty-reduction initiatives, with emphasis on skills development, productive assets and support for small-scale enterprises.
With the distribution of the starter packs, the government expects the newly trained artisans to begin applying their skills, establish businesses, create livelihoods and potentially generate employment for others.
