TIVET will reposition polytechnic, technical education in Nigeria — NBTE Executive Secretary

Executive Secretary of National Board for Technical Education (NBTE), Professor Idris Mohammed Bugaje, has posited that Nigeria will be better once it repositions the Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TIVET).

To this end, he said in the future, holders of diploma certificates will have to acquire Skills and Qualifications to get employment in line with the global trend.

Professor Bugaje stated this in Kaduna on Monday while declaring open a workshop to develop National Occupational Standards/National Skills Qualification for 25 occupational areas.

Speaking on the importance of the workshop, he said in the future, having a diploma alone is not enough one has to acquire a Skills qualification certificate to be relevant, saying this is the trend globally, and Nigeria must be key to this trend and turn to the East for development.

He said NBTE and the Innovation Development and Effectiveness in the Acquisition of Skills (IDEAS) Project organized the Six-Day workshop which gathered experts in the technology industry to develop National Occupational Standards/National Skills Qualification.

According to him, “Nigeria will be better once it repositions the Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TIVET)”.

While commending the Minister of Education’s plan to make technical colleges attractive through rebranding of all the Federal Science and Technical Colleges, the NBTE Executive Secretary advised that Nigeria should key into China’s Belt and Road Intervention.

“The plan of the Minister is to make Technical Colleges attractive. At the Federal level, all the Federal Science and Technical Colleges are being rebranded.

“Across the country, the government is introducing financial support from NELFUND. There is going to be funding for every student who joins technical science colleges by paying their school fees and certificate of NSQ, paying monthly allowance, and paying the master craftsman who trains him in the field.

“Very soon, technical schools will become attractive,, and at the moment, we are developing a proposal to the Minister for a Belt and Road intervention. This is a program that China has been promoting across the world. They have been building roads, railways, airports, and other infrastructures elsewhere.

“The best way to support those infrastructure is to invest in TIVET. Because the current infrastructure In polytechnics is very weak. If we are really going to put TIVET on a fast track, we must re-engineer these technical colleges, bring new infrastructures, do away with archaic curricula, and bring in modern ones.

“China can easily do it for us at a minimal cost and without any feelings that we are going to catch up with them because Western countries are always very conscious that if they allow Africa to develop on a fast track, we will take over.

“After all higher education started in Africa. The first three varsities in the world are in Africa. Western countries are always conscious they won’t allow you to surpass them. China may have its own vested interests, but it will not be as bad as those of the Western powers.

“For that reason, here at NBTE, we are proposing a Belt and Road proposal for the rejuvenation of the infrastructure of TIVET so that our technical colleges will have new buildings and equipment, and our polytechnics will also be reinvented and look better than any university in Nigeria.

“So, Nigeria needs to look towards the East to rediscover ourselves,” Professor Bugaje said.

Earlier in his remarks, Mr Isah Suleiman, the Managing Director, of Talent and Skill Managers Limited and consultant for the Workshop said, the participants are experts in 25 fields cutting across Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Agriculture, Mechatronics, Fishery, and others brought from across the country to develop the National Occupational Standards/National Skills Qualification for the 25 skills.

He said the efforts were aimed at addressing the existing skills gaps in the country and addressing unemployment among the youth.