Nasarawa State · 2026 pilot
Skills that turn into an income, in every Local Government Area.
A federal pilot training 1,500 residents of Nasarawa State in agriculture, digital work and business development — one guided week online, two days at a centre in Lafia, and a closing day of pitching, awards and graduation.
Implemented by the Office of the Special Assistant to the President on Capacity Development, under the supervision of the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation.
Enrol
From 4 September 2026
Nominees are enrolled onto the online class on this platform, ten days before the physical training begins.
One week online
7 to 13 September 2026
Seven guided days in the chosen stream on the programme platform, so that the days at the centre can be spent on practice.
At the centre
14 to 16 September 2026
Two days of physical training at a single centre in Lafia, then the closing day: pitch, awards, certificates and graduation.
The pilot at a glance
What the scheme commits to
Enrolment opens on 4 September 2026, ten days before the physical training begins.
Delivery
The ten days, in order
Enrolment opens on this platform, a guided week online grounds every participant, and the programme closes at a single centre in Lafia.
-
From 4 September 2026 Enrolment
Enrolment opens on the programme platform
Nominees are enrolled onto the online class ten days before the physical training. Each nominee is verified and assigned a place before the guided week begins.
-
7 to 13 September 2026 Guided week online
One week of guided online learning
The foundations of the chosen stream are delivered on the programme platform over seven days, with facilitated sessions and short assignments, so that participants arrive at the centre already grounded and the two days on site can be spent on practice.
-
Monday 14 September 2026 Physical training
Day one at the centre
Applied instruction in the chosen stream, delivered in person at the training centre in Lafia.
-
Tuesday 15 September 2026 Physical training
Day two at the centre
Supervised practical work and the competency assessment against which certification is issued.
-
Wednesday 16 September 2026 Closing
Pitch, awards and graduation
Enterprise proposals are presented to the judging panel, awards and starter support are handed over, and certificates are presented, as at the close of the 2025 programme.
Training streams
Three streams, one place each
A participant holds a place in one stream only, so that the 1,500 are 1,500 distinct individuals.
Agriculture
Agriculture Skills
Practical agronomy, dry-season irrigation and post-harvest handling, built around the value chains Nasarawa produces at scale and the irrigation opportunity created by the River Benue floodplains.
Digital
Digital Skills
A guided week online that builds the foundation, then two days at the centre on a dedicated machine per participant, converting that foundation into a marketable specialisation.
Business Development
Business Development Skills
Built on the evidence that conventional classroom business training produces small gains, while training that builds proactive initiative, simplifies financial practice into usable rules and ends in a lender-ready file produces substantially larger ones.
About the initiative
Delivered under the authority of the Presidency
A pilot in the exact sense of the word: run once at zone scale, documented, and evaluated.
The Capacity Development Training Initiative is the training programme of the Office of the Special Assistant to the President on Capacity Development. The Nasarawa State pilot is implemented by that Office in conjunction with, and under the supervision of, the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation.
It is designed so that the decision to extend it to the remaining geo-political zones can rest on measured results rather than on assertion.
Track record
What the initiative has already delivered
Figures are stated only at the level the surviving records evidence.
In January and February 2025 the initiative delivered a five-track training programme at the Atlas Training and Development Institute in Kano State, issued signed Certificates of Completion, and awarded ₦1,700,000 in prizes to three ventures at a pitch competition on 1 February 2025. It received 401 applications for 200 places in two days.
No participant-trained figure, completion rate or outcome statistic is published until the record that supports it is in hand. What is withheld, and why, is listed in full.
Photographs
From the training floor
Photographed at the programme delivered in Kano State in January and February 2025. These images are not of the Nasarawa State pilot, which has not yet been delivered.
Take part
Nominating, or being nominated?
Nominees apply for themselves and name their nominating authority, who countersigns by email. There is no fee at any stage of this programme.