Over 60,000 candidates sit for NABTEB examination nationwide

THE Federal Government has expressed concerns that only 60,000 candidates registered nationwide and are sitting for the ongoing National Business and Technical Examinations Board (NABTEB) examination.

Minister of State for Education, Hon Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba, expressed this worry on Monday while monitoring the ongoing examination and evaluation of the state of Technical Colleges in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

The examination is billed to end on October 15, 2020 nationwide.

Nwajiuba who visited Federal Science and Technical College, Orozo, where he inspected some of the technical facilities and workshop equipment and was unhappy to see that most of the equipment supplied to the technical colleges by successive administrations in the country have been abandoned.

While directing that the facilities provided by the government should be put to optimum and judicious use, the Minister urged Nigerian youths to enrol in the technical colleges for them to become craft men after graduation.

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He, however, commended NABTEB for the smooth and orderly conduct of the examination, saying he was glad at the strict observation and implementation of COVID-19 protocols, especially the provision of handwashing facilities, sanitisers and the wearing of facemasks by all candidates and supervisors involved in the examination.

He said: “Federal Government has equipped every school with equipment that are lying around without necessary technical expertise to run them, not just only this administration but administrations even before ours have gone ahead to install all kinds of equipment.

“What we ask of parents is that not everybody can become mass communication graduate or become business administrators, we have to have business before we have business administrators so let us move some of our manpower into the direction of the skills.

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“We need teachers who are technically oriented, we need students and we need skill manpower coming in here. I think that this place is a viable place to quickly galvanise all our effort together.

“All the things we have provided means nothing until Nigerians accept that technical manpower must be valued, that is how all these things would make sense,” he added.

On her part, the Registrar/Chief Executive, National Business and Technical Examinations Board (NABTEB), Prof. Ifeoma Isiugo-Abanihe, said the future of the NABTEB students is as bright as the rising star.

She noted that the society needs to understand the great importance of technical education in Nigeria, saying that if they were aware Technical Colleges would be full of candidates.

According to her, NABTEB examinations are equivalent of O’level and students who come out of it are good to go into industry.