Stakeholders have called for urgent action to address Nigeria’s widening digital skills gap, reiterating the need for vocational and digital education to prepare young Nigerians for the future of work.
Chief Executive Officer (CEO), OVL Foundation, Mrs. Omobolanle Victor-Laniyan, highlighted the alarmingly high youth unemployment rate, attributing it largely to a severe deficiency in digital skills, educational misalignment, and limited access to vocational training.
This was at a media parley to launch the 9ja Youth Drive initiative, themed *Ignite, Innovate, Inspire*, organised by OVL Foundation in partnership with Kratos Sustainability Consults, Mountain Top Productivity Enhancement Forum (MTPEF), and IHS Towers.
The 9ja Youth Drive is a robust program meticulously designed to equip young Nigerians aged 18–45 with essential vocational, digital, and technical skills vital for sustainable livelihoods.
The initiative includes a multi-state youth empowerment program targeting over 6,000 direct beneficiaries by 2025.
She emphasised that Nigeria can’t afford a digital skills gap in a digital age, while lamenting that 85 per cent of Nigerian graduates lack the digital skills needed for today’s job market.
According to her, 9ja Youth Drive responds to a critical need: equipping young people with relevant, future-ready skills. The program is structured across six geopolitical zones, with physical vocational training hosted in Delta, Nasarawa, Adamawa, Kaduna, Ogun, and Anambra states. Meanwhile, virtual tech trainings allow youth from across the country to participate in digital skill development regardless of location.
“This isn’t just training. It’s a system with mentorship, materials, and post-training support to ensure youths move from learning to earning,” Mrs. Victor-Laniyan noted.
The program’s scope includes intensive training in digital areas such as coding, data analytics, and digital marketing, while vocational options cover trades like soap making, tie-and-dye, makeup artistry, pastries, and hygiene product manufacturing. Importantly, beneficiaries are provided with startup materials after training to immediately begin practice and potential income generation.
In addition to skills acquisition, the initiative will host a Hackathon, a collaborative innovation competition for virtual tech trainees. Winners will receive a ₦1 million prize to support the real-world implementation of their solutions.
Reflecting on a personal experience, Board Advisory, OVL Foundation, Dr. Victor Okhai painted a picture of Nigeria’s vocational crisis, lamenting the decline in skilled trades.
“You can hardly find reliable mechanics, electricians, or watch repairers anymore. These trades are dying because young people are no longer interested in vocational work. Even in Europe and America, there’s a rising demand for plumbers, welders, and technicians. We risk being left behind if we don’t act fast,” he said.
Okhai warned that if Nigeria does not deliberately invest in technical and vocational skills training, the country’s youth will continue to miss both local and global employment opportunities.
“We’re taking two deliberate routes: empowering youth with digital skills to compete globally, and reviving vocational training to promote local innovation and industrialisation,” he said.
