The Federal Government has announced a partnership with the Giessen-Friedberg Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Germany to facilitate the export of skilled Nigerian labour to meet Germany’s growing demand for technical manpower.
Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, made this disclosure during a courtesy visit by a delegation from the German Chamber led by its Chief Executive Officer, Dr Matthias Leder, and former Minister of Information and Culture and the Managing Partner of Bruit Costaud, Lai Mohammed.
Alausa said the collaboration aims to leverage the pool of graduates from Nigeria’s revitalised Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) institutions, positioning them for international employment opportunities while addressing local manpower needs.
He said: “We will now work to set up a technical working group to begin to draft the MoU with you, and we will feed these students into our technical school into the pathway. We will do it in such a way that you will also come in for the assessment of these students while they are in school, and even the ones we have trained
“The ones that your chamber deems fit to travel, we will follow through the processes that we will put in place, up to getting a training visa from the German embassy.”
The Minister emphasised that the initiative should not be viewed as brain drain, but rather as a structured export of Nigerian skills and expertise that would enhance both national and global development.
He revealed that the first cohort of 250,000 trainees under the government’s TVET programme has commenced, with a target to train one million young Nigerians.
According to Alausa, all federal technical colleges were implementing the Dual Mandate Training programme free of charge, combining theoretical instruction with industry-based field training.
“When we met last year, in November, we learnt from what you said about this Dual Mandate Training, and I am happy to report to you that we have implemented that in all our technical colleges.
“The Federal Government has announced that going to our technical colleges is going to be free. We are paying for everything, so it’s free, and we have seen the surge of enrollment in our technical colleges has gone up by 400% and we are going to continue this and increase enrollment.”
He added that the Federal Government, with support from the World Bank, was funding the construction of modern workshops in both federal and selected state technical colleges.
Alausa, who commended the Giessen-Friedberg Chamber for its long-standing promotion of Dual Vocational Training in Nigeria, in partnership with the Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA) and other industry groups, added that Nigeria. The government needs to take ownership of the programme to ensure sustainability.
In his remarks, Dr Matthias Leder highlighted that between 2012 and 2018, the Chamber trained over 600 Nigerian trainers and trainees in collaboration with the Abuja, Lagos, and Ogun State Chambers of Commerce, as well as the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) and the Nigerian-German Business Association (NGBA).
He explained that the Dual Vocational Training model remains one of the most effective systems for building technical competence and driving industrial growth.
He said the Chamber has selected 18 Nigerians through a rigorous competitive process to begin learning the German language, after which they would be deployed to industries in Germany to undertake a three-year Dual Vocational Training programme.
“There are a lot of Nigerians willing to pay thousands of dollars to migrate illegally, but it’s much cheaper to migrate legally,” he said.
Leder also commended former Minister of Information and Culture and Managing Partner of Bruit Costaud, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, for his support in strengthening the Chamber’s partnership initiatives in Nigeria.
Other members of the German delegation included Marina França Leder, Tim Müller, Norbert Noisser, and Dr Kristen Albrecht.
