The West Africa Vocational Education, in collaboration with the Lagos State Employment Trust Fund and King’s Trust Fund, has called on youths to develop entrepreneurial skills.
This call was made recently during Friday’s Get Hired recruitment fair, which brought together over 150 job seekers and over 20 employers under one roof.
The fair marked the culmination of a four-week intensive employability training programme aimed at preparing young Nigerians for the workforce.
The initiative, part of a broader Lagos State project to empower 2,000 youths between the ages of 18 and 35 by 2027, focused on practical skills often overlooked in traditional education systems.
Lead of the Recruitment Team at WAVE, Tayelolu Owadokun, explained the motivation behind the programme and said, “We started this programme in partnership with LSETF and KTI to address the high unemployment rate in Nigeria. Many graduates don’t know how to write a proper CV, answer interview questions, or present themselves to potential employers. These are the essential skills we teach.”
Owadokun emphasised that some participants were also being equipped with entrepreneurship training, in case formal employment wasn’t immediately accessible.
“We started with over 300 participants, and today we have over 150 at the fair. Those who completed our WhatsApp training and empowerment day sessions were the ones invited. We were strict on discipline and readiness,” she added.
The Director of Programmes and Coordination at LSETF, Oyindamola Egbeyemi, described the fair as a critical touchpoint in the initiative.
She said, “We’ve been running the programme for just over a month. It ends with this job fair, where employers who have vacancies meet candidates ready for interviews. Some of them might even secure jobs today.
“The programme is open to everyone, but not everyone qualifies. We have a rigorous screening process and conduct interviews to assess applicants. It’s not just about training people; we measure the real outcomes through monitoring and evaluation.
“The real measure of success isn’t just training numbers. We evaluate impact, for example, assessing how beneficiaries are doing three months post-training.”
That’s how we know if the program is truly effective.”
One of the beneficiaries, Adeola Kareem, shared her journey, saying, “In school, everything is mostly theory. But during this training, it was all practical.
“They taught us CV writing, interview techniques, and how to present ourselves. It boosted our confidence and helped us realise that our soft skills matter more to employers than just our certificates.”
Another participant, Solomon Iregbeyen, a business development executive, described the programme as transformative.
He said, “The programme taught me so much about emotional intelligence, confidence, professionalism, and workplace behaviour. I got to meet amazing facilitators and network with great minds.”
Iregbeyen praised the support structure of the initiative, noting that the “breakout sessions, meals, and the learning environment were top-notch. I hope more youths can benefit from this in the future.”
Last year, The PUNCH reported that the Lagos State Employment Trust Fund and the United States African Development Foundation have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to strengthen collaboration to boost youth employment and entrepreneurship in Lagos State.
