The Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, announced the agreement during a bilateral meeting with Baroness Smith, Minister of State for Skills, on the sidelines of the 2026 Education World Forum in London.
The discussions focused on expanding practical cooperation in skills development, TVET reform, digital learning, and workforce readiness.
The engagement builds on Nigeria’s ongoing strategic education collaboration with the United Kingdom, following earlier talks with UK International Education Champion Sir Steve Smith.
Alausa reaffirmed the commitment of the Tinubu administration to reposition TVET as a key driver of employment, industrial growth, innovation, and national productivity.
He said the Federal Ministry of Education is aligning education reforms directly with labour market needs to ensure young Nigerians are better equipped for emerging economic opportunities.
Priority sectors identified for the partnership include clean energy, healthcare, engineering, digital technology, and artificial intelligence, which he described as central to Nigeria’s economic transformation agenda.
According to the Minister, Nigeria is implementing a modern skills framework anchored on quality assurance, stronger industry participation, globally recognised accreditation, and structured apprenticeship pathways designed to meet current and future workforce demand.
He highlighted expanding collaboration between Nigeria and the United Kingdom involving Federal Technical Colleges, the National Board for Technical Education, IQM, and other key agencies.
A statement by the minister’s Special Adviser, Media & Communications, Ikharo Attah, on Saturday explained that the partnership will support joint curriculum development, staff exchange programmes, accreditation alignment, and targeted skills matching initiatives.
It noted that both countries agreed on plans for UK skills institutions to visit Nigeria to co-develop programmes in clean energy, health services, engineering, and digital and artificial intelligence fields.
They also advanced discussions on apprenticeship models that better align training output with industry demand while maintaining quality and appropriate programme duration.
The engagement also prioritised efforts to raise the status of Technical and Vocational Education and Training by strengthening industry recognition and creating clearer career progression pathways for learners, drawing lessons from ongoing reforms under Skills England.
On global education financing, Alausa, in his capacity as a member of the Global Partnership for Education Board, urged continued United Kingdom support for the GPE 2026–2030 Replenishment Campaign. Nigeria will co-host the campaign with Italy at the margins of the United Nations General Assembly in New York in September 2026.
Responding, Baroness Smith commended Nigeria’s education reforms and welcomed deeper bilateral cooperation in skills development.
She also pledged to advocate for sustained United Kingdom support for the Global Partnership for Education ahead of the September 2026 replenishment campaign.
